Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative tauopathy associated with repetitive head impacts (RHI) typically sustained by contact sport athletes. Post-translation modifications to tau in CTE have not been well delineated or compared to Alzheimer's disease (AD).
METHODS: We measured phosphorylated tau epitopes within dorsolateral frontal cortex from post mortem brains with neither CTE nor AD (n = 108), CTE (n = 109), AD (n = 223), and both CTE and AD (n = 33).
RESULTS: Levels of hyperphosphorylated tau (p-tau) 202 , p-tau 231 , and p-tau 396 were significantly increased in CTE. Total years of RHI exposure was significantly associated with increased p-tau 202 levels (P = .001), but not p-tau 396 . Instead, p-tau 396 was most closely related to amyloid beta (Aβ) 1-42 levels (P < .001). The p-tau 202 :p-tau 396 ratio was significantly increased in early and late CTE compared to AD.
DISCUSSION: In frontal cortex, p-tau 202 is the most upregulated p-tau species in CTE, while p-tau 396 is most increased in AD. p-tau 202 and p-tau 396 measurements may aid in developing biomarkers for disease.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1511-1522 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Alzheimer's and Dementia |
Volume | 18 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 2022 |
Keywords
- Alzheimer's disease
- amyloid beta peptides
- brain
- chronic traumatic encephalopathy
- football
- humans
- male
- microtubule-associated proteins
- pathology
- statistics and numerical data
- tau proteins
- tauopathies
- tau Proteins/metabolism
- Phosphorylation
- Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
- Humans
- Alzheimer Disease/complications
- Amyloid beta-Peptides/metabolism
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Neurology
- Geriatrics and Gerontology
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
- Health Policy
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Epidemiology