While there have been numerous studies in both mouse models and in human patients attempting to prevent amyloid formation and deposition, there have been few therapeutic advances in targeting the formation of neurofibrillary tangles or other tau pathologies. Preliminary data from our lab and from a few others have strongly suggested that immunotherapy can be an effective means of prevention of development of tau accumulation in tau transgenic mice. This is a very surprising conclusion, as tau pathology has been seen as an intracellular event, and the likelihood of significant penetration of antibodies into neurons after peripheral administration appeared to be remote. However, at least some monoclonal antibodies to tau appear to be very effective at prevention of development of pathology in at least two different tau transgenic mouse lines. This evidence for efficacy raises many questions that will need to be addressed before this approach can be tested in humans with tauopathies, not the least of which is the nature of the antibody required for efficacy. We propose a classification of monoclonal antibodies to tau that divides available antibodies into four groups based on specificity for pathological tau aggregates, and will test representative members of all four groups. This work will also shed light on the nature of the tau species that is the target of immunotherapy. At this point, it is not even clear if targeting tau is essential for therapeutic success, and systematic studies with non-specific mouse IgG are essential. We have already identified two antibodies (MC1 and PHF1) that have demonstrated efficacy in prevention of development of tau pathology in mice. Extensive studies are already underway to attempt to determine the mechanism of action of these two antibodies. The controversial claim that there is significant penetration of antibodies into CNS neurons in mouse models will be intensively investigated in both mouse models and in cultured neurons from wild type and transgenic mice. New data showing that tau is actively released from cultured neurons and from other cell lines transfected with tau suggests new mechanisms by which antibodies might prove efficacious. We will examine three mechanisms which have been proposed to explain the efficacy of tau immunotherapy.
Neurofibrillary tangles are a major feature of Alzheimer's disease and several related disorders. There is preliminary evidence that monoclonal antibodies to tau can reduce the rate of development of tangles in some transgenic mouse models, but there is an urgent need to identify the most appropriate antibodies for treatment of human disease. This project proposes systematic testing of different classes of monoclonal antibodies to tau, and to attempt to understand how and why such therapy may be effective.
| Spiegel, Jonathan; Pirraglia, Elizabeth; Osorio, Ricardo S et al. (2016) Greater specificity for cerebrospinal fluid P-tau231 over P-tau181 in the differentiation of healthy controls from Alzheimer's disease. J Alzheimers Dis 49:93-100 |
| d'Abramo, Cristina; Acker, Christopher M; Schachter, Joel B et al. (2016) Detecting tau in serum of transgenic animal models after tau immunotherapy treatment. Neurobiol Aging 37:58-65 |
| d'Abramo, Cristina; Acker, Christopher M; Jimenez, Heidy et al. (2015) Passive Immunization in JNPL3 Transgenic Mice Using an Array of Phospho-Tau Specific Antibodies. PLoS One 10:e0135774 |
| Rubenstein, Richard; Chang, Binggong; Petersen, Robert et al. (2015) T-Tau and P-Tau in Brain and Blood from Natural and Experimental Prion Diseases. PLoS One 10:e0143103 |
| Forest, Stefanie K; Acker, Christopher M; d'Abramo, Cristina et al. (2013) Methods for measuring tau pathology in transgenic mouse models. J Alzheimers Dis 33:463-71 |
| d'Abramo, Cristina; Acker, Christopher M; Jimenez, Heidy T et al. (2013) Tau passive immunotherapy in mutant P301L mice: antibody affinity versus specificity. PLoS One 8:e62402 |
| Acker, Christopher M; Forest, Stefanie K; Zinkowski, Ray et al. (2013) Sensitive quantitative assays for tau and phospho-tau in transgenic mouse models. Neurobiol Aging 34:338-50 |
| Boutajangout, Allal; Ingadottir, Johanna; Davies, Peter et al. (2011) Passive immunization targeting pathological phospho-tau protein in a mouse model reduces functional decline and clears tau aggregates from the brain. J Neurochem 118:658-67 |
| Schlatterer, Sarah D; Tremblay, Matthew A; Acker, Christopher M et al. (2011) Neuronal c-Abl overexpression leads to neuronal loss and neuroinflammation in the mouse forebrain. J Alzheimers Dis 25:119-33 |
| Schlatterer, Sarah D; Acker, Christopher M; Davies, Peter (2011) c-Abl in neurodegenerative disease. J Mol Neurosci 45:445-52 |
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