Tau Protein Clumps in Lysosomes Disrupt Cell Cleanup in Neurodegeneration

Pathogenic Tau may broadly impair lysosomal function before its accumulation.

• The study used human neurons with a specific Tau mutation to explore cellular dysfunction.
• Lysosomal function was shown to be impaired by pathogenic Tau prior to Tau aggregation.
• Pharmacological activation of autophagy restored the degradative function of lysosomes.
• Restoration of lysosomal function led to reduced levels of Tau protein.
• The findings suggest potential new approaches for targeting early pathological Tau in tauopathies.

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