Tau Protein News and Research

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Tau proteins are microtubule-associated proteins found in neurons in the brain.

Alzheimer's and its helper protein

It is commonly observed that the brain in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) often contains fibrils of tau protein, which build up within the brain neurons to interrupt proper communication between them. However, it is far from clear what these deposits mean and how they form.

15 Mar 2020

Researchers find link between interferon, neuroinflammation and synapse loss in Alzheimer's

When immunologist Dr. Wei Cao joined Baylor College of Medicine three-and-a-half years ago, her first project was to investigate how inflammation contributes to Alzheimer's disease.

5 Mar 2020

Norwegian national center receives NOK 22.5 million for the fight against Alzheimer's disease

The Foundation Stiftelsen Kristian Gerhard Jebsen has donated NOK 22.5 million to a Norwegian national center for the fight against Alzheimer's disease. The grant was made public on 26 February.

5 Mar 2020

Nearly $4 million to fund drug discovery research for Alzheimer's, other dementia

The Alzheimer's Association and the Rainwater Charitable Foundation have joined forces again to fund drug discovery research towards finding therapies for Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal degeneration, and other tauopathies.

4 Mar 2020

New blood test could be deployed in primary care setting for people with memory issues

A blood test that may eventually be done in a doctor's office can swiftly reveal if a patient with memory issues has Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment and can also distinguish both conditions from frontotemporal dementia.

2 Mar 2020

Study reports advance in blood test to detect accumulation of Alzheimer's protein in the brain

Researchers report an advance in the development of a blood test that could help detect pathological Alzheimer's disease in people who are showing signs of dementia.

2 Mar 2020

Two new grants will help researchers to study neurotechnology, drug delivery system

Two grants will fund interdisciplinary research at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, including a look at how neurons and muscle cells communicate with each other and also to develop a drug delivery system for treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

23 Feb 2020

Subtle differences in cognitive performance predict progression to Alzheimer's pathology

Alzheimer's disease is progressive, but slow to develop -- or at least to reveal itself. In a new study, published online February 14, 2020 in the journal Biological Psychiatry, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues elsewhere, report that early, subtle differences in cognitive performance, such as fewer words recalled on a memory test, are a sign that harmful proteins are accumulating in the brain, even if levels of those proteins do not yet qualify as dangerous.

16 Feb 2020

Bacterial DNA promotes tau protein misfolding and aggregation, study shows

Researchers from Human Microbiology Institute and Mitchell Center for Alzheimer’s disease at the University of Texas McGovern Medical School in Houston have discovered that bacterial extracellular DNA can trigger Tau protein misfolding into neurotoxic aggregates, a key process in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis.

12 Feb 2020

Accumulated brain protein affects genes in Alzheimer's disease

A new study published in February 2020 in the journal Cell Reports shows how the build-up of specific brain cell proteins are linked to altered gene expression that causes the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

11 Feb 2020

New multiplexed electrical biosensor for accurate detection of Alzheimer's disease

A research team at KAIST reported clinically accurate multiplexed electrical biosensor for detecting Alzheimer's disease by measuring its core biomarkers using densely aligned carbon nanotubes.

11 Feb 2020

Flickering light triggers the brain to release signaling chemicals that may help fight Alzheimer's

For over a century, Alzheimer's disease has confounded all attempts to treat it. But in recent years, perplexing experiments using flickering light have shown promise.

4 Feb 2020

Reelin can reverse the main pathological processes associated with Alzheimer's, other tauopathies

Promoting the signaling pathway of reelin -an essential extracellular protein for the neuronal migration and synaptic plasticity- could be an effective therapeutical strategy to counterbalance the main cognitive, biochemical and behavioral alterations seen in Alzheimer's and other pathologies associated with Tau protein, as shown in a new study with animal models -published in the journal Progress in Neurobiology.

23 Jan 2020

Study shows the feasibility of using gene therapy to treat chronic traumatic encephalopathy

A new study shows the feasibility of using gene therapy to treat the progressive neurodegenerative disorder chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

3 Jan 2020

Tau-protein better predicts brain atrophy in Alzheimer's patients than amyloid plaques

Brain imaging of pathological tau-protein "tangles" reliably predicts the location of future brain atrophy in Alzheimer's patients a year or more in advance, according to a new study by scientists at the UC San Francisco Memory and Aging Center. In contrast, the location of amyloid "plaques," which have been the focus of Alzheimer's research and drug development for decades, was found to be of little utility in predicting how damage would unfold as the disease progressed.

2 Jan 2020

New dementia vaccine may proceed to clinical trials after successful testing

A preventive treatment for dementia may proceed to clinical trials after successful animal testing.

31 Dec 2019

Suppressing MSUT2 gene may protect people from Alzheimer’s disease

In the wake of recent disappointments over clinical trials targeting amyloid plaque build-up in Alzheimer's disease, researchers are focusing more attention on misfolded tau protein, another culprit in brain diseases that cause dementia.

18 Dec 2019

Research suggests contributory role of 'Asian glow' mutation and alcohol to Alzheimer’s

A new study from Stanford, published on December 12 in the journal Acta Neuropathologica Communications, suggests that an important enzyme that helps break down alcohol in the body is defective in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Understanding its relationship with alcohol and with genes that predispose to AD could help avert the latter in humans at risk.

12 Dec 2019

Study could help improve GENUS to become a therapeutic approach for Alzheimer's disease

The sweeping extent to which increasing 40Hz "gamma" rhythm power in the brain can affect the pathology and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in mouse models has been surprising, even to the MIT neuroscientists who've pioneered the idea. So surprising, in fact, they can't yet explain why it happens.

11 Dec 2019

ADDF announces new awards through its Diagnostics Accelerator initiative

The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation announced six new investments totaling $6 million through its Diagnostics Accelerator initiative.

4 Dec 2019