Differential involvement and heterogeneous phosphorylation of tau isoforms in progressive supranuclear palsy.

We found previously that aggregated insoluble tau protein in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) brains exhibits a heterogeneous pattern that is not segregated by the type of clinical presentation. Here we have investigated tau isoform composition from 20 PSP cases and found marked variation between different brains. Cases were classified into three groups, each comprising essentially of (1) 1N4R; (2) 1N4R and 1N3R; or (3) 1N4R, 1N3R and 0N4R tau isoforms. There was also an absence of a simple relationship between isoform composition and the pattern of insoluble tau before dephosphorylation. We conclude that there is distinct molecular heterogeneity in the involvement of tau isoforms in the tau pathology in PSP.