Tau: It's Not What You Think.

1. Trends Cell Biol. 2019 Jun;29(6):452-461. doi: 10.1016/j.tcb.2019.02.007. Epub 2019 Mar 28. Tau: It's Not What You Think. Baas PW(1), Qiang L(2). Author information: (1)Drexel University College of Medicine, Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, 2900 Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19129, USA. Electronic address: pwb22@drexel.edu. (2)Drexel University College of Medicine, Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, 2900 Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19129, USA. Tau is a multifunctional microtubule-associated protein in the neuron. For decades, tau's main function in neurons has been broadly accepted as stabilizing microtubules in the axon; however, this conclusion was reached mainly on the basis of studies performed in vitro and on ectopic expression of tau in non-neuronal cells. The idea has become so prevailing that some disease researchers are even seeking to use microtubule-stabilizing drugs to treat diseases in which tau dissociates from microtubules. Recent work suggests that tau is not a stabilizer of microtubules in the axon, but rather enables axonal microtubules to have long labile domains, in part by outcompeting genuine stabilizers. This new perspective on tau challenges long-standing dogma. Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1016/j.tcb.2019.02.007 PMCID: PMC6527491 PMID: 30929793 [Indexed for MEDLINE]