Aberrant Tau Phosphorylation by Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3β and JNK3 Induces Oligomeric Tau Fibrils in COS-7 Cells*

Journal of Biological Chemistry, August 2002

12191990

Shinji Sato, Yoshitaka Tatebayashi, Takumi Akagi, De-Hua Chui, Miyuki Murayama, Tomohiro Miyasaka, Emmanuel Planel, Kentaro Tanemura, Xiaoyan Sun, Tsutomu Hashikawa, Katsuji Yoshioka, Koichi Ishiguro, Akihiko Takashima

Neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) are found in a wide range of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. The major component of NFTs is aberrantly hyperphosphorylated microtubule-associated protein tau. Because appropriate in vivo models have been lacking, the role of tau phosphorylation in NFTs formation has remained elusive. Here, we describe a new model in which adenovirus-mediated gene expression of tau, DeltaMEKK, JNK3, and GSK-3beta in COS-7 cells produces most of the pathological phosphorylation epitopes of tau including AT100. Furthermore, this co-expression resulted in the formation of tau aggregates having short fibrils that were detergent-insoluble and Thioflavin-S-reactive. These results suggest that aberrant tau phosphorylation by the combination of these kinases may be involved in "pretangle," oligomeric tau fibril formation in vivo.