Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Neurodegenerative disease in 2015

Targeting tauopathies for therapeutic translation

Nature Reviews Neurology volume 12, pages 74–76 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

Tau protein abnormalities are key pathogenic features of Alzheimer disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. In 2015, new studies of the less common tauopathies, including progressive supranuclear palsy, chronic traumatic encephalopathy and frontotemporal lobar degeneration, have identified in vivo biomarkers and mechanisms that initiate tau pathology.

Tau-dependent cytotoxic mechanisms are pervasive in neurodegenerative disorders, occurring not only in Alzheimer disease (AD), but also in conditions such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and parkinsonian disorders1. These mechanisms involve post-translational modifications of tau, including hyperphosphorylation, cleavage and aggregation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Advances in tau research in 2015.

References

  1. Wang, Y. & Mandelkow, E. Tau in physiology and pathology. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 17, 22–35 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Goedert, M. Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases: the prion concept in relation to assembled Aβ, tau, and α-synuclein. Science 349, 1255555 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Nag, S. et al. Hippocampal sclerosis and TDP-43 pathology in aging and Alzheimer disease. Ann. Neurol. 77, 942–952 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Schneider, J. A., Arvanitakis, Z., Leurgans, S. E. & Bennett, D. A. The neuropathology of probable Alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment. Ann. Neurol. 66, 200–208 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Zhao, Y. et al. Appoptosin-mediated caspase cleavage of tau contributes to progressive supranuclear palsy pathogenesis. Neuron 87, 963–975 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Hoglinger, G. U. et al. Identification of common variants influencing risk of the tauopathy progressive supranuclear palsy. Nat. Genet. 43, 699–705 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Kondo, A. et al. Antibody against early driver of neurodegeneration cis P-tau blocks brain injury and tauopathy. Nature 523, 431–436 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Olivera, A. et al. Peripheral total tau in military personnel who sustain traumatic brain injuries during deployment. JAMA Neurol. 72, 1109–1116 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Rohrer, J. D. et al. Presymptomatic cognitive and neuroanatomical changes in genetic frontotemporal dementia in the Genetic Frontotemporal dementia Initiative (GENFI) study: a cross-sectional analysis. Lancet Neurol. 14, 253–262 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Johnson, K. A. et al. Tau positron emission tomographic imaging in aging and early Alzheimer disease. Ann. Neurol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ana.24546 (2015).

Download references

Acknowledgements

J.C.R. and A.L.B. are supported by NIH (grants U54NS092089 and R01AG038791) and the Tau Consortium.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Clinical Trials Program, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, 675 Nelson Rising Lane, Suite 190, MC 1207, San Francisco, 94143, California, USA

    Julio C. Rojas & Adam L. Boxer

Authors
  1. Julio C. Rojas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Adam L. Boxer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adam L. Boxer.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

A.L.B. has received research support from Avid, Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibb, C2N Diagnostics, Cortice Biosciences, Eli Lilly, Forum Pharmaceuticals, Genentech and TauRx. He has served as a consultant for Asceneuron, Ipierian, Ionis (formerly Isis) Pharmaceuticals, Janssen and Merck. He serves on a Data and Safety Monitoring Board for Neurogenetics Pharmaceuticals. He has stock and/or options in Alector and Delos. J.C.R. declares no competing interests.

Related links

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rojas, J., Boxer, A. Targeting tauopathies for therapeutic translation. Nat Rev Neurol 12, 74–76 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2016.5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2016.5

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing