Affiliations: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: J. Kuret, Ph.D., Professor, 1060 Carmack Rd, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. Tel.: +1 614 688 5899; Fax: +1 614 292 5379. E-mail: kuret.3@osu.edu.
Abstract: Tau-bearing neurofibrillary lesions present a promising biomarker for premortem diagnosis and staging of Alzheimer's disease and certain forms of frontotemporal lobar degeneration by whole brain imaging methods. Although brain penetrating compounds capable of binding tau aggregates with high affinity have been disclosed for this purpose, the major barrier to progress remains the need for tau lesion binding selectivity relative to amyloid-beta plaques and other deposits of proteins in cross-beta-sheet conformation. Here we discuss challenges faced in the development of tau lesion-selective imaging agents, and recent preclinical advances in pursuit of this goal.
