"Don't Phos Over Tau": recent developments in clinical biomarkers and therapies targeting tau phosphorylation in Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies

Phosphorylation is one of the most prevalent post-translational modifications found in aggregated tau isolated from Alzheimer's disease (AD) patient brains. In tauopathies like AD, increased phosphorylation or hyperphosphorylation can contribute to microtubule dysfunction and is associated with...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Molecular neurodegeneration 2021-06, Vol.16 (1), p.37-37, Article 37
Main Authors: Xia, Yuxing, Prokop, Stefan, Giasson, Benoit I
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advertising executives
Alzheimer Disease - metabolism
Alzheimer's disease
Biological markers
Biomarkers
Biomarkers - metabolism
Brain
Cerebrospinal fluid
Clinical trials
Comparative analysis
Development and progression
Drug therapy
Frontotemporal lobar degeneration
Humans
Immunotherapy
Kinases
Neurodegenerative diseases
Pathology
Phosphatases
Phosphorylation
Plasma
Post-translation
Protein Processing, Post-Translational
Review
Surveys
Tau phosphorylation
Tau protein
tau Proteins - metabolism
Tauopathy
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Summary:Phosphorylation is one of the most prevalent post-translational modifications found in aggregated tau isolated from Alzheimer's disease (AD) patient brains. In tauopathies like AD, increased phosphorylation or hyperphosphorylation can contribute to microtubule dysfunction and is associated with tau aggregation. In this review, we provide an overview of the structure and functions of tau protein as well as the physiologic roles of tau phosphorylation. We also extensively survey tau phosphorylation sites identified in brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid from AD patients compared to age-matched healthy controls, which may serve as disease-specific biomarkers. Recently, new assays have been developed to measure minute amounts of specific forms of phosphorylated tau in both cerebrospinal fluid and plasma, which could potentially be useful for aiding clinical diagnosis and monitoring disease progression. Additionally, multiple therapies targeting phosphorylated tau are in various stages of clinical trials including kinase inhibitors, phosphatase activators, and tau immunotherapy. With promising early results, therapies that target phosphorylated tau  could be useful at slowing tau hyperphosphorylation and aggregation in AD and other tauopathies.
ISSN:1750-1326
1750-1326
DOI:10.1186/s13024-021-00460-5