8CAX

Structure of Tau filaments Type II from Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis

Summary for 8CAX

• Entry DOI: 10.2210/pdb8cax/pdb
• Related: 8CAQ
• EMDB information: 16535
• Descriptor: Microtubule-associated protein tau (1 entity in total)
• Functional Keywords: tau filament, sspe, neurodegenerative disease, protein fibril
• Biological source: Homo sapiens (human)
• Total number of polymer chains: 6
• Total formula weight: 275519.23

Authors

Qi, C.,Hasegawa, M.,Takao, M.,Sakai, M.,Akagi, M.,Iwasaki, Y.,Yoshida, M.,Scheres, S.H.W.,Goedert, M. (deposition date: 2023-01-24, release date: 2023-11-08)

Primary citation

Qi, C.,Hasegawa, M.,Takao, M.,Sakai, M.,Sasaki, M.,Mizutani, M.,Akagi, A.,Iwasaki, Y.,Miyahara, H.,Yoshida, M.,Scheres, S.H.W.,Goedert, M.
Identical tau filaments in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis and chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Acta Neuropathol Commun, 11:74-74, 2023

PubMed Abstract: Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) occurs in some individuals after measles infection, following a symptom-free period of several years. It resembles chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which happens after repetitive head impacts or exposure to blast waves, following a symptom-free period. As in CTE, the neurofibrillary changes of SSPE are concentrated in superficial cortical layers. Here we used electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) of tau filaments from two cases of SSPE to show that the tau folds of SSPE and CTE are identical. Two types of filaments were each made of two identical protofilaments with an extra density in the β-helix region. Like in CTE, the vast majority of tau filaments were Type I, with a minority of Type II filaments. These findings suggest that the CTE tau fold can be caused by different environmental insults, which may be linked by inflammatory changes.

PubMed: 37143123
DOI: 10.1186/s40478-023-01565-2

Experimental method

ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (3.7 Å)