Abeta dependent tau phosphorylation

• Autor(a) principal: Martins, Filipa de Sá
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10773/7647
• topic: Biomedicina; Doença de Alzheimer; Fosforilação

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the presence of two histopathological hallmarks: the extracellular amyloid plaques (APs) composed of beta-amyloid protein (Abeta) and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), containing hyperphosphorylated tau protein. Therefore, Abeta and tau are important molecules associated with AD and evidence suggests that Abeta may initiate the hyperphosphorylation of tau, which by disrupting neuronal network leads to the process of neurodegeneration. In the present study, using rat primary cortical and hippocampal neuronal cultures, it was shown that exposure to aggregated Abeta1-42 for prolonged periods decreased tau phosphorylation at Ser202 and Thr205 residue, but in contrast increased at Ser262 residue. Tau hyperphosphorylation in AD may be related to alterations in signal transduction pathways involving tau phosphorylation, such as an imbalance in the regulation of protein kinases (PKs) and protein phosphatases (PPs). Thus it is also important to determine which specific PKs and PPs are involved in this process. We observed the involvement of PP1 in the dephosphorylation of tau at Ser202 and Thr205, and the involvement of PP1 and PP2A at the Ser262 residue. An important aspect of tau metabolism are its binding proteins, and to date many such proteins have already been described both in vitro and in vivo. The interactome of tau is shaped by its phosphorylation and so is crucial to map the crosstalk between normal and pathologically hyperphosphorylated tau. By co-immunoprecipitation we intend to identify proteins that interact with tau and more specifically with phosphorylated tau (p-Tau). Furthermore the effect of Abeta on this interactome should be forthcoming, which is relevant for AD tau pathology.