Tau protein, the main component of paired helical filaments

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Avila, Jesús

Affiliations: Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” (CSIC-UAM). Facultad de Ciencias, Campus de Cantoblanco, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 – Madrid. Spain. E-mail: javila@cbm.uam.es

Abstract: In this volume we commemorate the centennial of Alois Alzheimer's discovery of what was later known as Alzheimer's disease, named by Alzheimer's mentor, Emil Kraepelin [1]. In a much more low level, our group remember in this issue a paper published twenty years ago. In that paper it was described that tau can self-polymerize and, at that time, it suggested that tau was not only a component of Alzheimer paired helical filaments, as indicated some months earlier during that year, 1986, but that it was the main component of Alzheimer paired helical filaments.

Keywords: Alzheimer disease, paired helical filament, phosphorylation, tau

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-2006-9S320

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 9, no. s3, pp. 171-175, 2006