Tau gene mutations and tau pathology in frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17.

Abstract

Frontotemporal dementia was first described by Arnold Pick in 18921. In 1911, Alois Alzheimer described the neuropathological lesions characteristic of Pick’s disease2. In the 1960’s, these so-called Pick bodies were shown to contain abnormal filaments3which are now known to be made of hyperphosphorylated microtubule-associated protein tau4,5. They resemble the neurofibrillary lesions described by Alzheimer in 1907 in the disease subsequently named after him6,7. Filamentous inclusions made of tau protein are also a defining characteristic of neurodegenerative diseases, such as progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CBD).