Two faces of tau

Contrary to the dogma that β-amyloid triggers Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by inducing phosphorylation of the neuronal protein tau, an Australian team has shown that the process can in fact be protective rather than pathogenic. In defining the mechanism, the team uncovered MAP kinase 12 (MAPK12; ERK-3; p38γ) as a new target involved in early stage progression of the disease.

“It is widely thought that phosphorylation of tau downstream of Aβ mediates the toxicity in AD. The data in this paper really challenge that,” said Lars Ittner, a professor at University of New South Wales and lead investigator on the study. Microtubule-associated protein tau (tau; MAPT; FTDP-17) is an axonal and synaptic protein; although it clearly plays a role in AD, forming aggregates and disrupting synaptic transmission, its relative importance to β-amyloid has been the subject of dispute...