Immunological demonstration of tau protein in neurofibrillary tangles

Abstract

Neurofibrillary tangles are one of the neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, described early as part of the pathological criteria of the disease. Ultrastuctural studies in the 1960s showed their unusual features but their molecular composition was not unraveled before the mid-1980s. Initial biochemical studies suggested that they were composed of modified, unidentified brain proteins, although some immuno-cytochemical studies suggested that they contained polypeptides cross-reactive with antibodies to cytoskeletal proteins. In 1985, we reported that neurofibrillary tangles were systematically immunolabelled by antibodies to the microtubule-associated protein tau and that antibodies raised to neurofibrillary tangles cross-reacted with tau proteins. These results were soon confirmed independently in several laboratories. Many scientists have contributed to this research theme and our contribution to the initial identification of tau proteins in neurofibrillary tangles is summarized below, tentatively in the framework of studies that preceded and followed this observation.