Tau Shows Promise as Achilles' Heel for Alzheimer's and Similar Diseases

Researchers are focusing more on the tau protein that accumulates in the brain as attempts to treat neurodegenerative diseases through the beta-amyloid protein have come up short, reports Scientific American . Research has determined that people can continue to function well cognitively with amyloid in their brain. Normally, tau helps cohere and maintain the molecular framework of brain cells, but various molecular factors can make the protein toxic and destructive. A study in Science Translational Medicine found that the areas where tau accrues in a living brain predicts which regions will degenerate, suggesting that tracking the protein over time is feasible and helpful. Professor Anthony Fitzpatrick at Columbia University's Zuckerman Institute discovered that tau filaments form a unique shape that remains consistent within a single person, and also varies in each of the several diseases it can induce. Recent studies have suggested that tau may turn toxic in response to an inflammatory trigger like gum disease or an infection — or different conditions, such as when microbes and other particles leak into the nervous system from the digestive system. The potential benefits and drawbacks of treating tau tangles are still being explored, and some researchers think attacking tau alone may be less effective than a combined approach that targets tau and amyloid at the same time.