The role of tau in Alzheimer's disease

The defining neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease includes abundant filamentous tau and amyloid 0 lesions, but similar tau inclusions and brain degeneration in the absence of other lesions are hallmarks of neurodegenerative tauopathies, including hereditary frontotemporal dementia and Parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17. Thus, tau abnormalities are linked directly to the etiology and pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disease, and transgenic models are beginning to elucidate mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease linked to tau pathology which should accelerate efforts to develop more effective therapies for Alzheimer's and related neurodegenerative tauopathies.