Chaperone-Like Antibodies in Neurodegenerative Tauopathies: Implication for Immunotherapy

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) belongs to the category of neurodegenerative tauopathies, which are characterized by intracellular and extracellular accumulation of misfolded tau. Structurally, tau belongs to the family of the intrinsically disordered proteins that are characterized by the absence of well-defined three-dimensional structure of the free protein. In the course of neurodegeneration, intrinsically disordered tau protein gains highly ordered misfolded structure. Currently it is widely accepted that misfolded tau proteins represent viable drug target for prospective therapeutic development. Until now several therapeutic approaches targeting misfolded tau were developed. Monoclonal antibodies with chaperone-like activities that would be able to neutralize the toxic gain of function of misfolded tau represent novel promising immunological concept in the treatment of AD. We suggest that antibodies as specific chaperones targeting misfolded proteins may serve as potent therapeutic drugs of AD as well as others conformational diseases.