Effects of tau domain-specific antibodies and intravenous immunoglobulin on tau aggregation and aggregate degradation.

Tau pathology, including neurofibrillary tangles, develops in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The aggregation and hyperphosphorylation of tau are potential therapeutic targets for AD. Administration of anti-tau antibodies reduces tau pathology in transgenic "tauopathy" mice; however, the optimal tau epitopes and conformations to target are unclear. Also unknown is whether intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) products, currently being evaluated in AD trials, exert effects on pathological tau. This study examined the effects of anti-tau antibodies targeting different tau epitopes and the IVIG Gammagard on tau aggregation and preformed tau aggregates. Tau aggregation was assessed by transmission electron microscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy, and the binding affinity of the anti-tau antibodies for tau was evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Antibodies used were anti-tau 1-150 ("D-8"), anti-tau 259-266 ("Paired-262"), anti-tau 341-360 ("A-10"), and anti-tau 404-441 ("Tau-46"), which bind to tau's N-terminus, microtubule binding domain (MBD) repeat sequences R1 and R4, and the C-terminus, respectively. The antibodies Paired-262 and A-10, but not D-8 and Tau-46, reduced tau fibrillization and degraded preformed tau aggregates, whereas the IVIG reduced tau aggregation but did not alter preformed aggregates. The binding affinities of the antibodies for the epitope for which they were specific did not appear to be related to their effects on tau aggregation. These results confirm that antibody binding to tau's MBD repeat sequences may inhibit tau aggregation and indicate that such antibodies may also degrade preformed tau aggregates. In the presence of anti-tau antibodies, the resulting tau morphologies were antigen-dependent. The results also suggested the possibility of different pathways regulating antibody-mediated inhibition of tau aggregation and antibody-mediated degradation of preformed tau aggregates.