Cited by 1,003Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsNeuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration MechanismsAmyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Research

Roles of tau protein in health and disease

Open access
Guo, Tong, Noble, Wendy, Hanger, Diane P.·2017·Acta Neuropathologica

Abstract

Tau is well established as a microtubule-associated protein in neurons. However, under pathological conditions, aberrant assembly of tau into insoluble aggregates is accompanied by synaptic dysfunction and neural cell death in a range of neurodegenerative disorders, collectively referred to as tauopathies. Recent advances in our understanding of the multiple functions and different locations of tau inside and outside neurons have revealed novel insights into its importance in a diverse range of molecular pathways including cell signalling, synaptic plasticity, and regulation of genomic stability. The present review describes the physiological and pathophysiological properties of tau and how these relate to its distribution and functions in neurons. We highlight the post-translational modifications of tau, which are pivotal in defining and modulating tau localisation and its roles in health and disease. We include discussion of other pathologically relevant changes in tau, including mutation and aggregation, and how these aspects impinge on the propensity of tau to propagate, and potentially drive neuronal loss, in diseased brain. Finally, we describe the cascade of pathological events that may be driven by tau dysfunction, including impaired axonal transport, alterations in synapse and mitochondrial function, activation of the unfolded protein response and defective protein degradation. It is important to fully understand the range of neuronal functions attributed to tau, since this will provide vital information on its involvement in the development and pathogenesis of disease. Such knowledge will enable determination of which critical molecular pathways should be targeted by potential therapeutic agents developed for the treatment of tauopathies.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1007/s00401-017-1707-9

Cites

550 of 550 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Pathological tau disrupts synaptic integrity and neuronal connectivity, driving neurodegeneration and cognitive decline.

    “Pathological tau, characterized by hyperphosphorylation and aggregation into neurofibrillary tangles, disrupts synaptic integrity and neuronal connectivity, driving neurodegeneration and cognitive decline.”

    From Protective mechanisms against Alzheimer's disease in APOE3‐Christchurch homozygous astrocytes (2025) · cites this paper as [15]

    In “Tau-mediated neurodegeneration > Axonal transport impairment in the tauopathies” (page unavailable), the review says pathological tau can compromise synapses and contribute to synaptic degeneration and neuronal demise. But “Tauopathies > Tau in neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid pathology” cautions that cognitive decline is not an inevitable result of tau pathology and that the mechanism linking synapse loss to cognitive decline is unidentified. The claim overstates a definite causal chain from pathological tau through disrupted connectivity to cognitive decline. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Various kinases are known to induce tau hyperphosphorylation, such as GSK-3β, a major tau kinase. These kinases are hyperactivated during the progression of AD and other tauopathies.

    “Various kinases are known to induce tau hyperphosphorylation, such as GSK-3β, a major tau kinase. These kinases are hyperactivated during the progression of AD and other tauopathies [19], indicating that the development of their mediators may be an effective treatment for these diseases.”
  • Truncation inhibits the ability of tau to bind to microtubules and promotes tau aggregation, mitochondrial dysfunction and synaptic deficits.

    “Like phosphorylation and acetylation, truncation inhibits the ability of tau to bind to microtubules, and also promotes tau aggregation36,37, mitochondrial dysfunction37 and synaptic deficits39.”

    From Tau-targeting therapies for Alzheimer disease (2018) · cites this paper as [37]

  • During characterization of PHFs isolated from the brains of individuals with AD, tau had undergone carboxy-terminal truncation by caspase-3.

    “During the characterization of PHFs isolated from the brains of individuals with AD, it was discovered that tau had undergone carboxy-terminal truncation by caspase-336,37.”

    From Tau-targeting therapies for Alzheimer disease (2018) · cites this paper as [37]

  • In cell and animal models, siRNA reduces tau pathology and associated functional impairments.

    “In cell and animal models, siRNA was found to reduce tau pathology and associated functional impairments37.”

    From Tau-targeting therapies for Alzheimer disease (2018) · cites this paper as [37]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

1 retracted

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 8

  1. [116]Dolan PJ Johnson GVW Curr Opin Drug Discov Dev 2010 13 595 603 PMC2941661 20812151
  2. [130]Fernandez-Nogales M Santos-Galindo M Merchan-Rubira J Hoozemans JJ Rabano A Ferrer I Avila J Hernandez F Lucas JJ Brain Pathol 2016 PMC8029483 27338164
  3. [291]Lin L Yang SS Chu J Wang L Ning LN Zhang T Jiang Q Tian Q Wang JZ J Alzheimers Dis 2014 41 1149 1163 24787918
  4. [306]Llorens-Martin M Teixeira CM Fuster-Matanzo A Jurado-Arjona J Borrell V Soriano E Avila J Hernández F J Alzheimers Dis 2012 29 921 930 22337826
  5. [325]Masliah E Histol Histopathol 1995 10 509 519 7599445
  6. [343]Mondragón-Rodríguez S Mena R Binder LI Smith MA Perry G García-Sierra F Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol 2008 34 62 75 17971079
  7. [372]Novák M Acta Virol 1994 38 173 189 7817900
  8. [517]Wilson DM Binder LI Am J Pathol 1997 150 2181 2195 9176408 PMC1858305

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Guo, T., Noble, W., & Hanger, D. P.
Affiliations
King's College London (GB)
Corresponding author
Hanger, Diane P.
Venue
Acta Neuropathologica
Published
2017-04-06
Volume
133
Issue
5
Pages
665-704
ISSN
  • 0001-6322 (ISSN-L)
  • 1432-0533
OpenAlex
W2605036205
Cited by
1,003
References
550
Citations by year
2026: 87 · 2025: 120 · 2024: 112 · 2023: 112 · 2022: 118 · 2021: 154 · 2020: 115 · 2019: 88 · 2018: 75 · 2017: 21 · 2013: 1
FWCI
10.03
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Acta Neuropathologica (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Alzheimer’s Research UK
  • Alzheimer's Society
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
  • National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Research
Keywords
tau protein, tauopathy, tau aggregation, post-translational modification, tau mutations, tau propagation, axonal transport, synaptic dysfunction, mitochondrial dysfunction, unfolded protein response, protein degradation, synaptic plasticity, genome stability, neurodegeneration, neuronal loss
MeSH terms
Animals, Brain, Humans, Neurons, Protein Processing, Post-Translational, tau Proteins, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Tauopathies

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review