Towards a Better Understanding of Pathological Modifications of Tau in the Aging Brain

Tau protein is involved in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease. It is one of the few proteins in the body capable of becoming altered in ways that form harmful aggregates that disrupt cell function and lead to cell death. Given a much better understanding of the biochemistry by which tau protein becomes modified in ways that make it toxic, it might be possible to interfere in that modification process with small molecule drugs. This approach has worked for transthyretin amyloidosis, leading to drugs that significantly reduce the harmful aggregation of transthyretin by interfering in one specific step in the modification of transthyretin molecules. The research here is an example of much the same sort of work, a project that might lead to analogous treatments targeting tau aggregation in the aging brain. A new study has shown how a protein called tau, a critical factor in the development of Alzheimer's disease, turns from normal to a disease state - and demonstrates how this discovery could deliver a therapeutic target. The findings provide hope for preventing the tau transformation process from happening, thereby keeping tau in a healthy state and avoiding toxic effects on brain cells. In the course of Alzheimer's disease development, tau accumulates in deposits inside brain cells. During this process, tau gets heavily modified, with various deposits made up of tau carrying multiple small changes at many different positions within the tau molecule. While such change...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs