Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 20, 2026

Monitoring Cell-to-cell Transmission of Prion-like Protein Aggregates in Drosophila Melanogaster
Published on: March 12, 2018
Invited review: Prion-like transmission and spreading of tau pathology
F Clavaguera1, J Hench, M Goedert
1Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Filaments made of hyperphosphorylated tau protein are encountered in a number of neurodegenerative diseases referred to as 'tauopathies'. In the most prevalent tauopathy, Alzheimer's disease, tau pathology progresses in a stereotypical manner with the first lesions appearing in the locus coeruleus and the entorhinal cortex from where they appear to spread to the hippocampus and neocortex. Propagation of tau pathology is also characteristic of argyrophilic grain disease, where the tau lesions appear to spread throughout distinct regions of the limbic system. These findings strongly implicate neurone-to-neurone propagation of tau aggregates. Isoform composition and morphology of tau filaments can differ between tauopathies suggesting the existence of conformationally diverse tau strains. Altogether, this points to prion-like mechanisms in the pathogenesis of tauopathies.
Related Concept Videos
Alzheimer Disease ll: Pathophysiology
Amyloid Fibrils
Amyloid deposits were observed as early as 1639 in the liver and the spleen. In 1854, Rudolph Virchow performed iodine staining,...
Amyloid Fibrils
Parkinson Disease ll: Pathophysiology
Subviral Agents
Dementia l: Introduction

