Tau protein expression in frontotemporal dementias

The syndrome of frontotemporal dementia represents a diverse group of disea ses presenting with behavioral and cognitive disturbances. The expression o f the microtubule-associated protein tau was studied in postmortem samples of frontal cortex of 19 cases (12 Pick's disease A, B, C; 4 dementia lackin g distinct histology; 3 motor neuron disease type) by Western blotting with a phosphorylation-independent anti-tau antibody. The presence of tau prote in was detected in all cases evaluated, including the 11 brains classified as frontotemporal lobe degeneration (diagnostic categories Pick's disease B , C and dementia lacking distinct histology). These findings indicate that the recently reported decreased expression of tau protein in frontotemporal lobe degeneration represents pathogenic mechanism of neurodegeneration det ectable only in a special subset of these disorders. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scie nce Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.