Casein kinase 1 delta is associated with pathological accumulation of tau in several neurodegenerative disease

The distribution of casein kinase 1 delta (Cki delta) was studied by immuno histochemistry and correlated with other pathological hallmarks in Alzheime r's disease (AD), Down syndrome (DS), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), parkinsonism dementia complex of Guam (PDC), Pick's disease (PiD), pallido -ponto-ni,oral degeneration (PPND), Parkinson's disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and elderly contro ls. Cki delta was found to be associated generally with granulovacuolar bod ies and tau-containing neurofibrillary tangles in AD, DS, PSP, PDC, PPND, a nd controls, and Pick bodies and ballooned neurons in PiD. It was not assoc iated with tan-containing inclusions in astroglia and oligodendroglia in PP ND, PSP, and PDC. It was also not associated with tau-negative Lewy bodies in PD and DLB, Hirano bodies in PDC, Marinesco bodies in PD, AD, and contro ls and "skein"-like inclusions in anterior motor neurons in ALS. The coloca lization of the kinase Cki delta and its apparent substrate tau suggests a function for Cki delta in the abnormal processing of tau. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.