Elevated tau tied to volume loss in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex

Malfunction of a key brain protein called tau is the likely culprit behind Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, a2-14 study in mice concluded. Now there is tau imaging able to distinguish patients with Alzheimer's disease from those without. Making progress. . . http://www.medpagetoday.com/Neurology/AlzheimersDisease/59526?xid=fb_o_

From the editorial: "Now that we can measure brain Aβ in living people we have entered a phase of research in which we can test aspects of this hypothesis during life. The recent addition of tau positron emission tomography (PET) imaging has made it possible to examine the interactions between these 2 proteins, which will be crucial to understanding the etiology of AD and its eventual treatment."

http://archneur.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2537339