Cited by 552Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsPrion Diseases and Protein MisfoldingNeuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms

Trans-cellular Propagation of Tau Aggregation by Fibrillar Species

Open access
Kfoury, Najla, Holmes, Brandon B., Jiang, Hong, Holtzman, David M., Diamond, Marc I.·2012·Journal of Biological Chemistry

Abstract

Aggregation of the microtubule associated protein Tau is associated with several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer disease and frontotemporal dementia. In Alzheimer disease, Tau pathology spreads progressively throughout the brain, possibly along existing neural networks. However, it is still unclear how the propagation of Tau misfolding occurs. Intriguingly, in animal models, vaccine-based therapies have reduced Tau and synuclein pathology by uncertain mechanisms, given that these proteins are intracellular. We have previously speculated that trans-cellular propagation of misfolding could be mediated by a process similar to prion pathogenesis, in which fibrillar Tau aggregates spread pathology from cell to cell. However, there has been little evidence to demonstrate true trans-cellular propagation of Tau misfolding, in which Tau aggregates from one cell directly contact Tau protein in the recipient cell to trigger further aggregation. Here we have observed that intracellular Tau fibrils are directly released into the medium and then taken up by co-cultured cells. Internalized Tau aggregates induce fibrillization of intracellular Tau in these naive recipient cells via direct protein-protein contact that we demonstrate using FRET. Tau aggregation can be amplified across several generations of cells. An anti-Tau monoclonal antibody blocks Tau aggregate propagation by trapping fibrils in the extracellular space and preventing their uptake. Thus, propagation of Tau protein misfolding among cells can be mediated by release and subsequent uptake of fibrils that directly contact native protein in recipient cells. These results support the model of aggregate propagation by templated conformational change and suggest a mechanism for vaccine-based therapies in neurodegenerative diseases.

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 · 10.1074/jbc.m112.346072

Cites

43 of 43 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?

  • In cell culture, C2N-8E12 prevented pathological tau seeding caused by exogenous tau aggregates.

    “In cell culture, C2N-8E12 prevented pathological tau seeding caused by exogenous tau aggregates212.”

    From Tau-targeting therapies for Alzheimer disease (2018) · cites this paper as [212]

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

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Kfoury, N., Holmes, B. B., Jiang, H., Holtzman, D. M., & Diamond, M. I.
Affiliations
Washington University in St. Louis (US)
Corresponding author
Diamond, Marc I.
Venue
Journal of Biological Chemistry
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2012-06
Volume
287
Issue
23
Pages
19440-19451
ISSN
0021-9258 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2032355167
Cited by
552
References
43
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 47 · 2019: 59 · 2018: 48 · 2017: 46 · 2016: 41 · 2015: 41 · 2014: 47 · 2013: 43 · 2012: 15
FWCI
31.29
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Biological Chemistry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • American Health Assistance Foundation
  • Ruth K. Broad Biomedical Research Foundation
  • Muscular Dystrophy Association
  • Washington University in St. Louis
  • Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital
  • Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center
  • Hope Center for Neurological Disorders
  • National Institutes of Health (NS057105)
  • Tau Consortium
  • Charles F. and Joanne Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Center, Washington University in St. Louis
  • National Institute on Aging (P50AG005681)
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (F31NS079039, P30NS057105, NS057105, R01NS071835)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
Keywords
tau aggregation, Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia, protein misfolding, prion-like propagation, protein-protein contacts, neurodegenerative diseases
MeSH terms
Alzheimer Disease, Humans, Models, Biological, tau Proteins, Protein Folding, Multiprotein Complexes, Antibodies, Neutralizing, Frontotemporal Dementia, HEK293 Cells, Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived

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