Human Tau OneStep ELISA Kit

Human Tau is a microtubule-associated protein predominantly expressed in neurons of the central nervous system, where its primary physiological function is to promote microtubule assembly and stability. Encoded by the MAPT gene, this protein is crucial for axonal transport and neuronal morphology due to its ability to bind and stabilize microtubules. Tau is characterized as an intrinsically disordered protein, exhibiting a high degree of conformational flexibility. Structurally, it features a projection domain at the N-terminus and a microtubule-binding domain at the C-terminus, which contains three or four conserved repeat sequences responsible for its interaction with tubulin. In a healthy neuron, tau dynamically regulates microtubule dynamics, but its normal function is tightly controlled by post-translational modifications, particularly phosphorylation. Hyperphosphorylation of tau is a hallmark pathological event, leading to its detachment from microtubules, which subsequently destabilizes the neuronal cytoskeleton and impairs axonal transport. The detached, hyperphosphorylated tau proteins have a high propensity to misfold and aggregate into paired helical filaments, which further assemble into larger insoluble neurofibrillary tangles. These tangles are one of the defining neuropathological lesions in Alzheimer's disease and a spectrum of other neurodegenerative disorders collectively known as tauopathies.