title: Untangling tau imaging.
abstract: In vivo imaging of tau deposits is providing a better understanding of the temporal and spatial tau deposition in the brain, allowing a more comprehensive insight into the causes, diagnoses, and potentially treatment of tauopathies such as Alzheimer's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal syndrome, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and some variants of frontotemporal lobar degeneration. The assessment of tau deposition in the brain over time will allow a deeper understanding of the relationship between tau and other variables such as cognition, genotype, and neurodegeneration, as well as assessing the role tau plays in ageing. Preliminary human studies suggest that tau imaging could also be used as a diagnostic, prognostic, and theranostic biomarker, as well as a surrogate marker for target engagement, patient recruitment, and efficacy monitoring for disease-specific therapeutic trials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Imaging & Therapy, Centre for PET, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia; The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Victor L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Villemagne
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Okamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Imaging & Therapy, Centre for PET, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Christopher C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Rowe
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Dementia; PET; Positron emission tomography; Tau imaging; Tauopathies