Propagation of Tau Pathology: Integrating Insights From Postmortem and In  Vivo Studies

Cellular accumulation of aggregated forms of the protein tau is a defining feature of so-called tauopathies such as Alzheimer ’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. A growing body of literature suggests that conformational characteristics of tau filaments, along with regional vulnerability to tau pathology, account for the distinct histopathological morphologies, biochemical com position, and affected cell types seen across these disorders. In this review, we describe and discuss recent evidence from human postmortem and clinical biomarker studies addressing the differential vulnerability of brain areas to tau pathology, its cell-to-cell transmission, and characteristics of the different strains that tau aggregates can adopt.

Source: Biological Psychiatry - October 2, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thomas Vogels, Antoine Leuzy, Claudia Cicognola, Nicholas J. Ashton, Tomas Smolek, Michal Novak, Kaj Blennow, Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Hromadka, Norbert Zilka, Michael Sch öll Tags: Review Source Type: research