Scientists from the UK Dementia Research Institute at the University of Cambridge have described how cytosolic antibody receptor TRIM21 contributes to in vivo protection during tau immunotherapy. Their work on TRIM21’s mechanism of action may help in moving a step closer toward enhanced second-generation antibodies for tauopathy treatments.
Scientists from Washington University in St. Louis have described a role for T cells in the neurodegeneration associated with the tau protein. Tau accumulation in the brain activated microglia. This signal triggered the activation of T cells in other parts of the body, attracting them to the brain. Once there, the interaction of these T cells and microglia produced the neuronal damage seen in Alzheimer’s disease and other tauopathies.
A model of tauopathy developed in the worm nematode Caenorhabditis elegans was developed for investigating the mechanisms behind tauopathy development.
Investigators have developed a new approach to classifying neurodegenerative disorders that used the overall patterns of protein aggregation, rather than specific proteins, to define six clusters of patients that crossed traditional diagnostic categories.
