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Sci. STKE, 8 May 2007
Vol. 2007, Issue 385, p. tw163
[DOI: 10.1126/stke.3852007tw163]

EDITORS' CHOICE

Medicine Tau Reduction and Cognitive Decline

Stella M. Hurtley

Science, AAAS, Cambridge CB2 1LQ, UK

The brain pathology in Alzheimer’s disease involves both neurofibrillary tangles rich in the protein tau and plaques containing amyloid-beta peptide (Abeta), but the relative contribution of each to cognitive impairment is unclear. Roberson et al. found that cognitive and neuronal deficits in two transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease are prevented when endogenous tau production is eliminated or reduced by 50%. The effect of tau reduction was robust, despite the absence of tau mutations, hyperphosphorylation, overexpression, or aggregation into neurofibrillary tangles in these models. Tau reduction did not block plaque-associated neuritic dystrophy, indicating that neuritic dystrophy can be dissociated both from tau and from Abeta-induced cognitive impairments.

E. D. Roberson, K. Scearce-Levie, J. J. Palop, F. Yan, I. H. Cheng, T. Wu, H. Gerstein, G.-Q. Yu, L. Mucke, Reducing endogenous tau ameliorates amyloid beta-induced deficits in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model. Science 316, 750-754 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text]

Citation: S. M. Hurtley, Tau Reduction and Cognitive Decline. Sci. STKE 2007, tw163 (2007).

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