Tau Aggregation Drives Neuroinflammation via Transposable Element Activation

Evidence suggests that there is a bidirectional relationship between tau aggregation and inflammation in the aging brain. Both occur in all brains, and when present to a greater degree contribute to the neurodegenerative conditions termed tauopathies. The most well known of these is Alzheimer's disease, in which tau aggregates and their surrounding toxic biochemistry cause the widespread cell death and severe symptoms that characterize the final stages of the condition. Various studies individually support each of the two directions of the relationship between tau and inflammation. Removing senescent cells from the brain dampens inflammatory signaling, and thereby reduces tau pathology, for example. Here, researchers demonstrate a mechanism by which tau aggregation encourages transposable element activity that in turn provokes an inflammatory response. We might view the later stages of many neurodegenerative conditions as runaway feedback loops in which inflammation produces consequences that encourage further inflammation. Pathogenic tau-induced transposable element-derived dsRNA drives neuroinflammation Deposition of tau protein aggregates in the brain of affected individuals is a defining feature of "tauopathies," including Alzheimer's disease. Studies of human brain tissue and various model systems of tauopathy report that toxic forms of tau negatively affect nuclear and genomic architecture, identifying pathogenic tau-induced heterochromatin decond...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs