The tau oligomer antibody APNmAb005 detects early-stage pathological tau enriched at synapses and rescues neuronal loss in long-term treatments

作者：Hwan‐Ching Tai, Haou-Tzong Ma, Shien-Chieh Huang, Meng‐Fang Wu, Chia‐Lin Wu, Yen‐Ting Lai, Zhong‐Lin Li, Richard Margolin, Anthony J. Intorcia, Geidy E. Serrano, Thomas G. Beach, Madhaven Nallani, Bradford Navia, Ming‐Kuei Jang, Chin‐Yin Tai · 发表于：bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1101/2022.06.24.497452 · 被引用次数：15 · 研究领域：Alzheimer's disease research and treatments、Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms、Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

ABSTRACT Numerous tau immunotherapies are being developed against Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but it has been challenging to specifically target early-stage tau aggregates using conformation-dependent antibodies. Here, we report a monoclonal antibody, APNmAb005, that recognized a conformational epitope associated with tau oligomers. In AD brain extracts, mAb005 preferentially recognized oligomeric tau in the synapse over monomeric tau in the cytosol. In the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, mAb005 immunoreactivity was strongly present in early-stage AD but surprisingly diminished in late-stage AD (Braak stage VI). mAb005 also recognized aggregates in 3R tauopathies (Pick’s disease) and 4R tauopathies (corticobasal degeneration and progressive supranuclear palsy), including those in astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. In rTg4510 mice (P301L tau), mAb005 immunoreactivity first appeared in distal neurites but much later in neuronal somas. Thus, the mAb005 epitope appears to be associated with early-stage oligomers of tau (esoTau) that accumulate around synapses in AD, which is also detectable in both 3R and 4R tauopathies. In cellular uptake models of tauopathy transmission, mAb005 blocked the formation of intracellular inclusions induced by incubation with rTg4510 mouse brain extracts. Long-term treatments with mAb005 in rTg4510 mice partially rescued synaptic and neuronal loss in the hippocampus without promoting overall tau clearance. Our data suggest that immunotherapies targeti...