Tau immunotherapy for Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Targeting pathological tau protein in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related tauopathies has shown great potential in animal models. Given that tau lesions correlate better with the degree of dementia than do amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques, their clearance may be clinically more efficacious than removing Aβ when cognitive deficits become evident in AD. Several complementary mechanisms of antibody-mediated removal of tau aggregates are likely to act in concert and the importance of each one may depend on antibody properties, the disease, and its stage. Clinical trials of tau immunotherapy are already underway and several more are likely to be initiated in the near future.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; immunotherapy; tau protein; tauopathies.