Cited by 269Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsDementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchNeuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms

Molecular signatures underlying neurofibrillary tangle susceptibility in Alzheimer’s disease

Open access
Otero-Garcia, Marcos, Mahajani, Sameehan U., Wakhloo, Debia, Tang, Weijing, Xue, Yue-Qiang, Morabito, Samuel, Pan, Jie, Oberhauser, Jane +9 more·2022·Neuron

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

Tau aggregation in neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) is closely associated with neurodegeneration and cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the molecular signatures that distinguish between aggregation-prone and aggregation-resistant cell states are unknown. We developed methods for the high-throughput isolation and transcriptome profiling of single somas with NFTs from the human AD brain, quantified the susceptibility of 20 neocortical subtypes for NFT formation and death, and identified both shared and cell-type-specific signatures. NFT-bearing neurons shared a marked upregulation of synaptic transmission-related genes, including a core set of 63 genes enriched for synaptic vesicle cycling. Oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial dysfunction were highly cell-type dependent. Apoptosis was only modestly enriched, and the susceptibilities of NFT-bearing and NFT-free neurons for death were highly similar. Our analysis suggests that NFTs represent cell-type-specific responses to stress and synaptic dysfunction. We provide a resource for biomarker discovery and the investigation of tau-dependent and tau-independent mechanisms of neurodegeneration.

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 · 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.06.021

Cites

140 of 140 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?

  • Studies have shown that RORB-expressing excitatory neurons in the EC and the frontal cortex, as well as SST-positive interneurons in the frontal cortex, are more prone to neuronal susceptibility than other parts of the brain.

    “Studies have shown that RORB-expressing excitatory neurons in the EC [45] and the frontal cortex [56], as well as SST-positive interneurons in the frontal cortex [8], are more prone to neuronal susceptibility than other parts of the brain.”

    From Abnormal accumulation of extracellular vesicles in hippocampal dystrophic axons and regulation by the primary cilia in Alzheimer's disease (2023) · cites this paper as [56]

    The Results section on neuronal death in the AD prefrontal cortex reports a small but statistically significant increase in SST interneurons’ susceptibility to cell death and describes them as the interneurons most susceptible to death. The comparison is among neuronal subtypes in prefrontal area BA9, not between the frontal cortex and other brain regions; no page number is available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • It is well known that hyperphosphorylation of tau proteins leads to their accumulation into neurofibrillary tangles, which can potentially destabilize microtubules.

    “It is well known that hyperphosphorylation of tau proteins leads to their accumulation into neurofibrillary tangles, which can potentially destabilize microtubules [27, 56].”

    From Abnormal accumulation of extracellular vesicles in hippocampal dystrophic axons and regulation by the primary cilia in Alzheimer's disease (2023) · cites this paper as [56]

    The Introduction describes neurofibrillary tangles as containing hyperphosphorylated tau aggregates, supporting that association. It does not establish that hyperphosphorylation causes tau to accumulate into tangles or that the tangles destabilize microtubules; its references to microtubule-related pathways and dynamics do not make that causal claim. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • RBM25 is downregulated in tangle-bearing AT8+ neurons in AD brains.

    “These findings are consistent with previous studies showing that RBM25 is downregulated in tangle-bearing AT8+ neurons in AD brains35.”

    From The R136S mutation in the APOE3 gene confers resilience against tau pathology via inhibition of the cGAS-STING-IFN pathway (2025) · cites this paper as [35]

    The Results sections compare AT8+ and AT8− neurons and report expression changes for several named genes, but the passages found do not mention RBM25. Searches for “RBM25” and “RNA-binding motif protein 25” found no passage establishing its downregulation in tangle-bearing neurons. (LLM, conf=0.73)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Previous snRNA-seq profiling revealed lower RBM25 expression in AT8+ vs. AT8- neurons of AD brains.

    “Consistent with protective effects of RBM25, previous snRNA-seq profiling revealed lower RBM25 expression in AT8+ vs. AT8- neurons of AD brains35.”

    From The R136S mutation in the APOE3 gene confers resilience against tau pathology via inhibition of the cGAS-STING-IFN pathway (2025) · cites this paper as [35]

    The Results section on the census of neuronal subtypes reports profiling AT8+ and AT8− somas from AD donors, and the section on NFT-specific transcriptomic changes reports comparing gene expression between those groups. Neither passage gives an RBM25 result; searches for “RBM25” and for downregulated RNA-binding proteins found no passage establishing lower RBM25 expression in AT8+ neurons. (LLM, conf=0.72)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 141 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Otero-Garcia, M., Mahajani, S. U., Wakhloo, D., Tang, W., Xue, Y.-Q., Morabito, S., Pan, J., Oberhauser, J., Madira, A. E., Shakouri, T., Deng, Y., Allison, T., He, Z., Lowry, W. E., Kawaguchi, R., Swarup, V., & Cobos, I.
Affiliations
  • Stanford Medicine (US)
  • University of California, Irvine (US)
  • University of California, Los Angeles (US)
Corresponding author
Cobos, Inma
Venue
Neuron
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2022-09
Volume
110
Issue
18
Pages
2929-2948.e8
ISSN
0896-6273 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4287881862
Cited by
262
References
141
Citations by year
2026: 57 · 2025: 80 · 2024: 63 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 1
FWCI
30.81
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neuron (publishedVersion)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Alzheimer's Association (AARG-17-528298)
  • BrightFocus Foundation (A20173465)
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Center for AIDS Research, University of Washington
  • National Institute on Aging (R01AG059848, RF1AG071683, R01AG071683, P30AG066515)
  • Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
Keywords
neurofibrillary tangles, Alzheimer's disease, tau aggregation, single-cell transcriptomics, synaptic vesicle recycling, synaptic transmission, oxidative phosphorylation, mitochondrial dysfunction, apoptosis, neurodegeneration, biomarkers
MeSH terms
Alzheimer Disease, Brain, Humans, Biomarkers, Neurofibrillary Tangles, tau Proteins

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