Tauopathies: new perspectives and challenges

Background Tauopathies are a class of neurodegenerative disorders characterized by neuronal and/or glial tau-positive inclusions. Main body Clinically, tauopathies can present with a range of phenotypes that include cognitive/behavioral-disorders, movement disorders, language disorders and non-specific amnestic symptoms in advanced age. Pathologically, tauopathies can be classified based on the predominant tau isoforms that are present in the inclusion bodies (i.e., 3R, 4R or equal 3R:4R ratio). Imaging, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood-based tau biomarkers have the potential to be used as a routine diagnostic strategy and in the evaluation of patients with tauopathies. As tauopathies are strongly linked neuropathologically and genetically to tau protein abnormalities, there is a growing interest in pursuing of tau-directed therapeutics for the disorders. Here we synthesize emerging lessons on tauopathies from clinical, pathological, genetic, and experimental studies toward a unified concept of these disorders that may accelerate the therapeutics. Conclusions Since tauopathies are still untreatable diseases, efforts have been made to depict clinical and pathological characteristics, identify biomarkers, elucidate underlying pathogenesis to achieve early diagnosis and develop disease-modifying therapies.

Automated summary

In this article, emerging knowledge on tauopathies from clinical, pathological, genetic, and experimental studies is synthesized to accelerate the development of therapeutics for these diseases. The focus is on depicting pathological characteristics, identifying biomarkers, elucidating the underlying pathogenesis for early diagnosis, and the development of disease-modifying therapies.