Epitopes that span the tau molecule are shared with paired helical filaments

KS Kosik, LD Orecchio, L Binder, JQ Trojanowski… - Neuron, 1988 - Elsevier
KS Kosik, LD Orecchio, L Binder, JQ Trojanowski, VMY Lee, G Lee
Neuron, 1988Elsevier
Tau protein has been shown to be an integral component of Alzheimer paired helical
filaments (PHF). However, the extent to which tau is incorporated into PHF has not been
clear because the antibodies used to label PHF generally do not have precisely defined
epitopes. Here we define the antigenic sites for five monoclonal antibodies that react with
tau and cross-react with SDS-extracted neurofibrillary tangles. The reactive sites were
determined by screening a λgt11 sublibrary expressing small fragments of the tau sequence …
Abstract
Tau protein has been shown to be an integral component of Alzheimer paired helical filaments (PHF). However, the extent to which tau is incorporated into PHF has not been clear because the antibodies used to label PHF generally do not have precisely defined epitopes. Here we define the antigenic sites for five monoclonal antibodies that react with tau and cross-react with SDS-extracted neurofibrillary tangles. The reactive sites were determined by screening a λgt11 sublibrary expressing small fragments of the tau sequence. The mapped epitopes were found to span almost the entire length of tau, suggesting that PHF contains tau in its entirety or nearly in its entirety. One antibody was found to cross-react with microtubule-associated protein 2, implying some degree of homology between the two proteins.
Elsevier