Role for B-cell adapter for PI3K (BCAP) as a signaling adapter linking Toll-like receptors (TLRs) to serine/threonine kinases PI3K/Akt.

Toll like receptors (TLRs) use Toll-IL-1 receptor (TIR) domain-containing adapters, such as myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MyD88) and TIR domain-containing adapter inducing IFN-β (TRIF), to induce activation of transcription factors, including NF-κB, MAP kinases, and IFN regulatory factors. TLR signaling also leads to activation of PI3K, but the molecular mechanism is not understood. Here we have discovered a unique role for B-cell adapter for PI3K (BCAP) in the TLR-signaling pathway.

Neuron-selective toxicity of tau peptide in a cell culture model of neurodegenerative tauopathy: essential role for aggregation in neurotoxicity.

Intracellular aggregation of tau is a pathological hallmark in Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies. The mechanisms underlying tau aggregation and the role that these aggregates play in neuronal death have remained controversial. To study these issues, we established a cell culture model of tauopathy using a hexameric peptide with the sequence (306)VQIVYK(311) located within the third microtubule-binding repeat of tau, rendered cell-permeable by a tag of nine arginine residues (R(9)).