Nasal tau #immunotherapy clears intracellular #tau pathology and improves cognitive functions in aged tauopathy mice

Editor’s summary

Tau pathology is a common denominator for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease or frontotemporal dementia, but selectively targeting toxic tau remains a challenge. Here, Gaikwad et al. developed a conformation-specific antibody for tau and demonstrated selective targeting of toxic tau aggregates in patient-derived tissue and tau oligomers in vitro. Packed into lipophile micelles, the antibody could readily reach the brains of tauopathy mice upon intranasal administration, where it ameliorated tau pathology and improved cognitive function. These results suggest a new immunotherapeutic strategy for neurodegenerative diseases with tau pathology. —Daniela Neuhofer

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.adj5958