Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive amnestic
dementia that involves post-translational hyperphosphorylation, enzymatic cleavage, and conformational alterations of the
microtubule-associated protein tau. The truncation state of tau influences many of its pathologic characteristics, including its ability to assume AD-related conformations and to assemble into filaments. Cleavage also appears to be an important marker in AD progression. Although C-terminal truncation of tau at D421 has recently been attributed to the apoptotic
enzyme caspase-3, N-terminal processing of the
protein remains mostly uncharacterized. Here, we report immunohistochemical staining in a cohort of 35 cases ranging from noncognitively impaired to early AD with a panel of three N-terminal anti-tau
antibodies: Tau-12, 5A6, and 9G3-pY18. Of these three, the phosphorylation-independent
epitope of 5A6 was the earliest to emerge in the pathological lesions of tau, followed by the appearance of the Tau-12
epitope. The unmasking of the Tau-12
epitope in more mature 5A6-positive tangles was not correlated with tau phosphorylation at
tyrosine 18 (9G3-pY18). Still, later in the course of tangle evolution, the extreme N terminus of tau was lost, correlating temporally with the appearance of a C-terminal
caspase-truncated
epitope lacking residues 422-441. In addition,
caspase-6 cleaved the N terminus of tau in vitro, preventing immunoreactivity with both Tau-12 and 5A6. Mass spectrometry confirmed that the in vitro
caspase-6 truncation site is D13, a semicanonical and hitherto undescribed
caspase cleavage site in tau. Collectively, these results suggest a role for
caspase-6 and N-terminal truncation of tau during neurofibrillary tangle evolution and the progression of
Alzheimer's disease.