ABSTRACT
Tau is a microtubule-associated protein enriched in neuronal axons. Tau’s ability to bind, polymerize and stabilize microtubules is important for neuronal morphogenesis as well as axonal function such as axonal transport. Hyperphosphorylated tau forms paired helical filaments that aggregate as intraneuronal structures called neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs).1,2 NFTs or insoluble tau aggregates a group of sporadic and familial neurodegenerative and movement disorders called ‘tauopathies’, which include Alzheimer’s disease (AD), progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, Pick’s disease and frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism – chromosome 17 type (FTDP-17). Autosomal dominant mutations cause FTDP-17, which comprises a group of clinically heterogeneous syndromes with broad overlapping behavioral, cognitive and motor abnormalities.3-6
Although tau is expressed from a single gene, its expression in the central nervous system (CNS) is complex and developmentally regulated.
