Novel Phospho-Tau Monoclonal Antibody Generated Using a Liposomal Vaccine, with Enhanced Recognition of a Conformational Tauopathy Epitope.

The microtubule-associated protein Tau is an intrinsically unfolded, very soluble neuronal protein. Under still unknown circumstances, Tau protein forms soluble oligomers and insoluble aggregates that are closely linked to the cause and progression of various brain pathologies, including Alzheimer's disease. Previously we reported the development of liposome-based vaccines and their efficacy and safety in preclinical mouse models for tauopathy.

Phosphorylation of protein Tau by GSK3β prolongs survival of bigenic Tau.P301L×GSK3β mice by delaying brainstem tauopathy.

Tau.P301L transgenic mice suffer precocious mortality between ages 8 and 11 months, resulting from upper airway defects caused by tauopathy in autonomic brainstem circuits that control breathing (Dutschmann et al., 2010).

Efficacy and safety of a liposome-based vaccine against protein Tau, assessed in tau.P301L mice that model tauopathy.

Progressive aggregation of protein Tau into oligomers and fibrils correlates with cognitive decline and synaptic dysfunction, leading to neurodegeneration in vulnerable brain regions in Alzheimer's disease. The unmet need of effective therapy for Alzheimer's disease, combined with problematic pharmacological approaches, led the field to explore immunotherapy, first against amyloid peptides and recently against protein Tau. Here we adapted the liposome-based amyloid vaccine that proved safe and efficacious, and incorporated a synthetic phosphorylated peptide to mimic the important phospho-epitope of protein Tau at residues pS396/pS404.

Protein tau: prime cause of synaptic and neuronal degeneration in Alzheimer's disease.

The microtubule-associated protein Tau (MAPT) is a major component of the pathogenesis of a wide variety of brain-damaging disorders, known as tauopathies. These include Alzheimer's disease (AD), denoted as secondary tauopathy because of the obligatory combination with amyloid pathology. In all tauopathies, protein Tau becomes aberrantly phosphorylated, adopts abnormal conformations, and aggregates into fibrils that eventually accumulate as threads in neuropil and as tangles in soma.

Kainate-induced toxicity in the hippocampus: potential role of lithium.

Objectives: We investigated the neuroprotective effects of lithium in an experimental neurodegeneration model gated to kainate (KA) receptor activation.

Methods: The hippocampus from KA-treated mice and hippocampal cell cultures were used to evaluate the pathways regulated by chronic lithium pretreatment in both in vivo and in vitro models.

Results: Treatment with KA, as measured by fragmentation of alpha-spectrin and biochemically, induced the activation of calpain resulting in p35 cleavage to p25, indicating activation of cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (cdk5) and glycogen synthase kinase-3ss (GSK-3ss) and an increase in tau protein phosphorylation.