Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P10636 (tau protein)
 5,110 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterised by progressive behavioural disturbance, aphasia and a decline in frontal cognitive functions. Frontotemporal atrophy on CT and MRI, and hypoperfusion of the frontal brain regions on single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), are characteristic findings. Neuropathological examination reveals deposition of abnormally phosphorylated tau protein in neurons and glial cells in a number of the sporadic and familial cases, while aspecific changes with neuronal loss, spongiosis and gliosis are found in the remaining cases. A familial form with an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance is seen in 20% of FTD patients. Mutations in the tau gene have been identified in a number of families with deposition of abnormal tau protein in affected brain regions. Presymptomatic DNA testing is now available for relatives of patients with tau mutations, but must only be considered after extensive genetic counselling in a centre with neurogenetic expertise.
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PMID:[New insights in frontotemporal dementia]. 1096 65

Biochemical markers of brain damage, e.g. ischemic stroke, should reflect the volume of irreversibly damaged brain parenchyma and the clinical outcome in a single patient in order to allow estimation of prognosis at an early stage. Tau protein, which derives predominantly from neurons and axons, is elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with neurodegenerative disease. This makes tau protein a potential marker of neuronal/axonal injury. In order to test this hypothesis, the current study aimed at showing that tau protein is measurable in the blood after acute ischemic stroke and that it correlates with clinical disability and stroke volume. In a longitudinal prospective study we measured tau protein serum levels with an ELISA in 30 patients longitudinally after ischemic stroke. Tau protein was detectable within 5 days after ischemia in the sera of 7/20 patients with MRI-proven infarction and in 2/10 patients with transitory ischemic attack; both of them had a small infarction visible on the MRI scan. Tau protein was measurable within 6 h after symptom onset, peaked after 3-5 days and correlated with infarct volume and disability after 3 months. In conclusion, serum tau protein is a candidate marker of axonal injury. In stroke, its clinical use is limited, because it is detectable only in a proportion of patients.
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PMID:Serum tau protein level as a marker of axonal damage in acute ischemic stroke. 1180 92

This case report describes the sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) of a 53-year-old man who initially complained about vertigo and dizziness. Within 18 weeks, he developed impaired memory, hemineglect, and sensory impairment of the left half of the body. A CSF tap was positive for 14-3-3 protein and showed increased tau protein, neuron-specific enolase (NSE), and the astroglial protein S-100 B. The EEG showed right temporal sharp waves without periodicity. Diffusion-weighted MRI revealed hyperintensities in the right temporo-occipital cortex which corresponded well with hypometabolic areas in a PET scan and the neurological and neuropsychological deficits. The morphological FLAIR T2 MRI showed no pathological changes. Within 20 weeks, the patient developed severe dementia with decreased spatial orientation and myoclonia, became incontinent, and was confined to bed. He died within 22 weeks after the first presentation of symptoms.
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PMID:[Correlation of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging with neurological deficits in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease]. 1221 82

We evaluated the diagnostic sensitivity of periodic synchronous discharge (PSD) in EEG, brain specific proteins in CSF such as neuron specific enolase (NSE), 14-3-3 protein, and tau protein, and imaging studies performed by T2-weighted MRI (T2I) and diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI). 36 patients with a mean age of 68.6 years were enrolled. Their diagnostic levels were as follows: seven were definite, 28 were possible, and one was probable who had a disease-specific point mutation of V180I. The diagnostic sensitivities of PSD, NSE, 14-3-3 protein, tau protein, DWI, and T2I were 50% (N = 36), 70% (N = 30), 80.8% (N = 26), 87.5% (N = 16), 92.3% (N = 26), and 42.3% (N = 26), respectively. DWI could revealed the CJD-related lesions earlier than the appearance of PSD. DWI revealed the lesions even in the patients who did not show PSD. For the diagnosis of CJD, DWI and either 14-3-3 protein or tau protein are useful. Using western blot, we detected the protease-resistant PrP in the urine of 11 of 15 CJD patients. We also detected it in three of 25 disease control patients. Differing from previous reports, the detection of a protease-resistant PrP was not specific to CJD patients. However, the sensitivity was 73.3% and the specificity was 88.9%.
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PMID:[Laboratory and imaging studies for the diagnosis of prion disease]. 1515 71

Recently, it has become important to diagnose Alzheimer's Disease (AD) at an early stage due to the development of AD therapy. Also, there is increasing recognition of a class of elderly people with complaints of memory loss but who nevertheless do not meet the criteria for dementia. "Mild cognitive impairment" (MCI) is the term used for this disorder, and amnestic MCI is highly converted to AD. In this study we evaluated the accuracy of diagnosis of amnestic MCI by cerebrospinal fluid total-tau protein (CSF/total-tau), cerebrospinal fluid amyloid beta 1-42 protein (CSF/A beta 1-42), and cerebral blood flow in the posterior cingulate cortex using SPECT. CSF/total-tau was the most appropriate to discriminate between normal cognitive individuals and those with amnestic MCI. We also evaluated the CSF/total-tau and MRI images between patients with stable MCI and those with progressive MCI, including those who converted to AD in the following two years. The stable type was characterized by normal CSF/total-tau levels and relatively high grade periventricular white matter lesions (PWML). Conversely, the progressive type was characterized by high CSF-tau levels and relatively low grade PWML. We speculate that stable MCI is due to ischemic change with in the white matter lesion, while progressive MCI may represent a previous stage of AD.
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PMID:[Diagnosing the mild cognitive impairment stage of Alzheimer's disease]. 1516 76

The majority of proximal myotonic myopathy syndromes reported so far have been related to the myotonic dystrophy (DM) type 2 (DM2) mutation, an expanded (CCTG)n repeat in the ZNF9 gene. Here, we describe the phenotype and the histological features in muscle and brain of the first large pedigree with a non-myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) non-DM2 multisystem myotonic disorder associated with severe frontotemporal dementia. Thirty individuals from three generations underwent detailed neurological, neuropsychological, electrophysiological, brain imaging and molecular analyses. Ten of them had proximal muscle weakness at onset, clinical/electrical myotonia and DM-type cataracts. The mean age at onset was 46.7 +/- 12.6 years (range: 32-69). Dementia was observed later in the course of the disease. On muscle biopsies, rare nuclear clumps, rimmed vacuoles and small angulated type 1 and type 2 fibres were seen early in the disease. They were replaced by fibrous adipose tissue at later stages. Immunohistochemical analysis of myosin heavy chain isoforms showed no selective fibre type atrophy-both type 1 and type 2 fibres being affected. Cortical atrophy without white matter lesions was seen on brain MRI. A brain single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) study revealed marked frontotemporal hypoperfusion. Post-mortem examination of the brains of two patients showing prominent frontotemporal spongiosis, neuronal loss and rare neuronal and glial tau inclusions suggested frontotemporal dementia. Western blot analyses of the tau protein showed a triplet of isoforms (60, 64 and 69 kDa) in neocortical areas, and a doublet (64 and 69 kDa) in subcortical areas that distinguish our myotonic disorder from other's myotonic dystrophies. Molecular analyses failed to detect a repeat expansion in the DMPK and ZNF9 genes excluding both DM1 and DM2, whereas a genome-wide linkage analysis strongly suggested a linkage to chromosome 15q21-24. This previously unreported multisystem myotonic disorder including findings resembling DM1, DM2 and frontotemporal dementia provides further evidence of the clinical and genetic heterogeneity of the myotonic dystrophies. We propose to designate this disease myotonic dystrophy type 3, DM3.
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PMID:A non-DM1, non-DM2 multisystem myotonic disorder with frontotemporal dementia: phenotype and suggestive mapping of the DM3 locus to chromosome 15q21-24. 1521 18

The main goal of our studies has been to use MRI, FDG-PET, and CSF biomarkers to identify in cognitively normal elderly (NL) subjects and in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the earliest clinically detectable evidence for brain changes due to Alzheimer's disease (AD). A second goal has been to describe the cross-sectional and longitudinal interrelationships amongst anatomical, CSF and cognition measures in these patient groups. It is now well known that MRI-determined hippocampal atrophy predicts the conversion from MCI to AD. In our summarized studies, we show that the conversion of NL subjects to MCI can also be predicted by reduced entorhinal cortex (EC) glucose metabolism, and by the rate of medial temporal lobe atrophy as determined by a semi-automated regional boundary shift analysis (BSA-R). However, whilst atrophy rates are predictive under research conditions, they are not specific for AD and cannot be used as primary evidence for AD. Consequently, we will also review our effort to improve the diagnostic specificity by evaluating the use of CSF biomarkers and to evaluate their performance in combination with neuroimaging. Neuropathology studies of normal ageing and MCI identify the hippocampal formation as an early locus of neuronal damage, tau protein pathology, elevated isoprostane levels, and deposition of amyloid beta 1-42 (Abeta42). Many CSF studies of MCI and AD report elevated T-tau levels (a marker of neuronal damage) and reduced Abeta42 levels (possibly due to increased plaque sequestration). However, CSF T-tau and Abeta42 level elevations may not be specific to AD. Elevated isoprostane levels are also reported in AD and MCI but these too are not specific for AD. Importantly, it has been recently observed that CSF levels of P-tau, tau hyperphosphorylated at threonine 231 (P-tau231) are uniquely elevated in AD and elevations found in MCI are useful in predicting the conversion to AD. In our current MCI studies, we are examining the hypothesis that elevations in P-tau231 are accurate and specific indicators of AD-related changes in brain and cognition. In cross-section and longitudinally, our results show that evaluations of the P-tau231 level are highly correlated with reductions in the MRI hippocampal volume and by using CSF and MRI measures together one improves the separation of NL and MCI. The data suggests that by combining MRI and CSF measures, an early (sensitive) and more specific diagnosis of AD is at hand. Numerous studies show that neither T-tau nor P-tauX (X refers to all hyper-phosphorylation site assays) levels are sensitive to the longitudinal progression of AD. The explanation for the failure to observe longitudinal changes is not known. One possibility is that brain-derived proteins are diluted in the CSF compartment. We recently used MRI to estimate ventricular CSF volume and demonstrated that an MRI-based adjustment for CSF volume dilution enables detection of a diagnostically useful longitudinal P-tau231 elevation. Curiously, our most recent data show that the CSF isoprostane level does show significant longitudinal elevations in MCI in the absence of dilution correction. In summary, we conclude that the combined use of MRI and CSF incrementally contributes to the early diagnosis of AD and to monitor the course of AD. The interim results also suggest that a panel of CSF biomarkers can provide measures both sensitive to longitudinal change as well as measures that lend specificity to the AD diagnosis.
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PMID:MRI and CSF studies in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. 1532 64

A young patient with a severe and isolated memory disorder, meeting the criteria for MCI, was followed for a period of 8 years. His overall functional level remained stable with a CDR-score at 0.5 until the last year when it dropped to 1.0. Neuropsychological testing showed severe memory deficits but otherwise normal cognitive functions. Only minimal progression was measured; however, the last testing showed impaired abstraction and executive functioning as well as discrete problems generating names of objects and people. Neuroimaging, with MRI and SPECT, was consistent with a progressive degenerative disorder, and cerebrospinal fluid levels of beta-amyloid 1-42, tau protein, and phosphorylated tau protein were characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We argue that this is a case of prodromal AD, which illustrates an extreme version of the normal course with respect to slow progression of the disease and severity of amnesia early in the course.
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PMID:Years of severe and isolated amnesia can precede the development of dementia in early-onset Alzheimer's disease. 1580 24

Subacute spongiform encephalopathies are rare fatal diseases that affect the central nervous system, which is thought to be caused by prions, characterized clinically by a rapid progressive dementing course, along with generalized myoclonus. The prototype of these conditions in humans is Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD). Although the final diagnosis depends on neuropathological examination, the presence of periodic sharp wave complexes on EEG and of the neuron-specific enolase, tau protein, S-100, and of the 14-3-3 protein in the cerebrospinal fluid, make the diagnosis of probable CJD. However, as these criteria are not completely accurate and the early diagnosis is extremely difficult, much interest has been focused recently on imaging methods. With the advent of diffusion-weighted imaging, MRI has shown high sensitivity and specificity, therefore being considered a useful method for the early diagnosis of this entity.
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PMID:Subacute spongiform encephalopathies. 1634 Mar 37

In order to improve diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), candidate biological markers in CSF as well as structural and functional imaging were investigated. Biomarkers are clearly needed to support detection of incipient AD in subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). To date the most promising core candidate markers are total and hyperphosphorylated tau protein and amyloid beta peptides in the CSF, as well as hippocampus and whole brain volumetry using MRI. None of the candidates has been finally validated and established for clinical routine so far. International controlled multicenter cooperative studies are ongoing to further develop these core diagnostic marker candidates (phase III). The core markers are reviewed in detail. Promising novel approaches are discussed.
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PMID:[Neurobiological early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease]. 1761 28


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