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01-12-2014 | Commentary

Are cases with tau pathology occurring in the absence of Aβ deposits part of the AD-related pathological process?

Authors: Heiko Braak, Kelly Del Tredici

Published in: Acta Neuropathologica | Issue 6/2014

Excerpt

The current neuropathological diagnosis of clinically suspected Alzheimer’s disease (AD) requires the presence of advanced neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) stages and of Aβ deposits in the brain [15]. Both abnormal proteins (intraneuronal forms of aggregated and hyperphosphorylated tau and extracellular Aβ) develop at different times at different predilection sites and progress gradually but inexorably during the pathological process by sequential spreading into previously uninvolved regions. Tau pathology develops prior to Aβ deposits [1, 5, 6]. In their position paper, Crary et al. [8] present arguments for distinguishing two processes: an ‘AD-related process’ and a non-AD-related ‘primary age-related tauopathy’ (PART). Both are characterized by the presence of 3R and 4R tau isoforms as well as paired helical filaments but they differ in that the first displays the combined presence of tau and Aβ pathologies, whereas the second is marked by the presence of tau pathology alone. …

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Title: Are cases with tau pathology occurring in the absence of Aβ deposits part of the AD-related pathological process?
Authors: Heiko Braak
Kelly Del Tredici
Publication date: 01-12-2014
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Acta Neuropathologica / Issue 6/2014
Print ISSN: 0001-6322
Electronic ISSN: 1432-0533
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-014-1356-1

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Are cases with tau pathology occurring in the absence of Aβ deposits part of the AD-related pathological process?

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