Browsing by Subject "Primary age-related tauopathy"

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    Correction to: Cryo-EM structures of tau filaments from Alzheimer’s disease with PET ligand APN-1607
    (SpringerLink, 2021-06) Shi, Yang; Murzin, Alexey G.; Falcon, Benjamin; Epstein, Alexander; Machin, Jonathan; Tempest, Paul; Newell, Kathy L.; Vidal, Ruben; Garringer, Holly J.; Sahara, Naruhiko; Higuchi, Makoto; Ghetti, Bernardino; Jang, Ming‑Kuei; Scheres, Sjors H.W; Goedert, Michel; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    Correction to: Acta Neuropathologica 10.1007/s00401-021-02294-3
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    Cryo-EM structures of tau filaments from Alzheimer’s disease with PET ligand APN-1607
    (Springer, 2021-05) Shi, Yang; Murzin, Alexey G.; Falcon, Benjamin; Epstein, Alexander; Machin, Jonathan; Tempest, Paul; Newell, Kathy L.; Vidal, Ruben; Garringer, Holly J.; Sahara, Naruhiko; Higuchi, Makoto; Ghetti, Bernardino; Jang, Ming‑Kuei; Scheres, Sjors H. W.; Goedert, Michel; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    Tau and Aβ assemblies of Alzheimer's disease (AD) can be visualized in living subjects using positron emission tomography (PET). Tau assemblies comprise paired helical and straight filaments (PHFs and SFs). APN-1607 (PM-PBB3) is a recently described PET ligand for AD and other tau proteinopathies. Since it is not known where in the tau folds PET ligands bind, we used electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) to determine the binding sites of APN-1607 in the Alzheimer fold. We identified two major sites in the β-helix of PHFs and SFs and a third major site in the C-shaped cavity of SFs. In addition, we report that tau filaments from posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) and primary age-related tauopathy (PART) are identical to those from AD. In support, fluorescence labelling showed binding of APN-1607 to intraneuronal inclusions in AD, PART and PCA. Knowledge of the binding modes of APN-1607 to tau filaments may lead to the development of new ligands with increased specificity and binding activity. We show that cryo-EM can be used to identify the binding sites of small molecules in amyloid filaments.
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    A single ultrasensitive assay for detection and discrimination of tau aggregates of Alzheimer and Pick diseases
    (BMC, 2020-02) Metrick, Michael A., II; do Carmo Ferreira, Natália; Saijo, Eri; Kraus, Allison; Newell, Kathy; Zanusso, Gianluigi; Vendruscolo, Michele; Ghetti, Bernardino; Caughey, Byron; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    Multiple neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by aggregation of tau molecules. Adult humans express six isoforms of tau that contain either 3 or 4 microtubule binding repeats (3R or 4R tau). Different diseases involve preferential aggregation of 3R (e.g Pick disease), 4R (e.g. progressive supranuclear palsy), or both 3R and 4R tau molecules [e.g. Alzheimer disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy]. Three ultrasensitive cell-free seed amplification assays [called tau real-time quaking induced conversion (tau RT-QuIC) assays] have been developed that preferentially detect 3R, 4R, or 3R/4R tau aggregates in biospecimens. In these reactions, low-fg amounts of a given self-propagating protein aggregate (the seed) are incubated with a vast excess of recombinant tau monomers (the substrate) in multi-well plates. Over time, the seeds incorporate the substrate to grow into amyloids that can then be detected using thioflavin T fluorescence. Here we describe a tau RT-QuIC assay (K12 RT-QuIC) that, using a C-terminally extended recombinant 3R tau substrate (K12CFh), enables sensitive detection of Pick disease, Alzheimer disease, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy seeds in brain homogenates. The discrimination of Pick disease from Alzheimer disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy cases is then achieved through the quantitative differences in K12 RT-QuIC assay thioflavin T responses, which correlate with structural properties of the reaction products. In particular, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis of the respective K12CFh amyloids showed distinct β-sheet conformations, suggesting at least partial propagation of the original seed conformations in vitro. Thus, K12 RT-QuIC provides a single assay for ultrasensitive detection and discrimination of tau aggregates comprised mainly of 3R, or both 3R and 4R, tau isoforms.
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    Transcriptional signatures of hippocampal tau pathology in primary age-related tauopathy and Alzheimer’s disease
    (Elsevier, 2025) Stein-O’Brien, Genevieve L.; Palaganas, Ryan; Meyer, Ernest M.; Redding-Ochoa, Javier; Pletnikova, Olga; Guo, Haidan; Bell, William R.; Troncoso, Juan C.; Huganir, Richard L.; Morris, Meaghan; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    In primary age-related tauopathy (PART) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), tau aggregates share a similar structure and anatomic distribution, which is distinct from tau pathology in other diseases. However, transcriptional similarities between PART and AD and gene expression changes within tau-pathology-bearing neurons are largely unknown. Using GeoMx spatial transcriptomics, mRNA was quantified in hippocampal neurons with and without tau pathology in PART and AD. Synaptic genes were down-regulated in disease overall but up-regulated in tau-pathology-positive neurons. Two transcriptional signatures were associated with intraneuronal tau, both validated in a cortical AD dataset. Genes in the up-regulated signature were enriched in calcium regulation and synaptic function. Notably, transcriptional changes associated with intraneuronal tau in PART and AD were similar, suggesting a possible mechanistic relationship. These findings highlight the power of molecular analysis stratified by pathology and provide insight into common pathways associated with tau pathology in PART and AD.