title: Characteristics of Tau and Its Ligands in PET Imaging.
abstract: Tau deposition is one of the neuropathological hallmarks in Alzheimer's disease as well as in other neurodegenerative disorders called tauopathies. Recent efforts to develop selective tau radiopharmaceuticals have allowed the visualization of tau deposits in vivo. In vivo tau imaging allows the assessment of the regional distribution of tau deposits in a single human subject over time for determining the pathophysiology of tau accumulation in aging and neurodegenerative conditions as well as for application in drug discovery of anti-dementia drugs as surrogate markers. However, tau deposits show complicated characteristics because of different isoform composition, histopathology, and ultrastructure in various neurodegenerative conditions. In addition, since tau radiopharmaceuticals possess different chemotype classes, they may show different binding characteristics with heterogeneous tau deposits. In this review, we describe the characteristics of tau deposits and their ligands that have β-sheet binding properties, and the status of tau imaging in clinical studies.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuro-imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, 4-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan. dragon1@med.tohoku.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Ryuichi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuro-imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, 4-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan. nookamura@med.tohoku.ac.jp.|Department of Pharmacology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan. nookamura@med.tohoku.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Okamura
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry, Cyclotron and Radioisotope Center, Tohoku University, 6-3Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan. furumoto@cyric.tohoku.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Shozo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Furumoto
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry, Cyclotron and Radioisotope Center, Tohoku University, 6-3Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan. tago@cyric.tohoku.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tago
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan. yanai@med.tohoku.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yanai
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, 4-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan. hiroyuki.arai.b5@tohoku.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuro-imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, 4-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan. kudoyk3y7k3@med.tohoku.ac.jp.|Division of Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry, Cyclotron and Radioisotope Center, Tohoku University, 6-3Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan. kudoyk3y7k3@med.tohoku.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Yukitsuka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kudo
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D001665:Binding Sites; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D011485:Protein Binding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000378:metabolism; D024801:Tauopathies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D008024:Ligands; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D016875:tau Proteins
keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; positron emission tomography; radiotracer; tau deposits