Anti-Tau (4-repeat isoform RD4) Antibody, clone 7D12.1 clone 7D12.1, from mouse

Microtubule-associated protein tau (UniProt P10636; also known as Neurofibrillary tangle protein, Paired helical filament-tau, PHF-tau) is encoded by the MAPT (also known as MAPTL, MTBT1, TAU) gene (Gene ID 4137) in human. Extracellular plaque deposits composed of amyloid-beta and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) composed of truncated and hyperphosphorylated tau are two neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Tau pathology (tauopathy) can cause toxicity when the brain is devoid of amyloid plaques, and tangle pathology correlates better with clinical dementia than amyloid pathology. Abnormal processing of tau by hyperphosphorylation and proteolytic truncation contribute to the toxicity of tau. Tau also undergoes other types of posttranslational modifications, including glycosylation, ubiquitination, glycation, polyamination, nitration, and lysine methylation, which are believed to be important for its non-pathological functions, including polymerization and stabilization of microtubules. Alternative splicings result in multiple Tau isoforms, including five human Tau spliced isoforms with four C-terminal microtubule-binding repeats/domains (RD4) and four spliced isoforms that contain only three microtubule-binding domains (RD3) due to the absence of exon 10-conding sequence. Isoform-specific antibodies are useful tools for analyzing tau isoforms expression and distribution as well as pathological changes in the human brain.