University of South Florida

Eric Lewandowski

Yu Chen

Stephen Bryant Liggett

Jung A Woo

David E Kang

As disclosed herein, β-arrestin1 and β-arrestin2 levels are highly elevated in brains of FTLD-tau patients suggesting that both β-arrestin1 and β-arrestin2 are elevated in the brains of patients with AD and FLTD. The current work also shows that when β-arrestin2 is overexpressed, tau levels become elevated. The data indicate that β-arrestin2 reduces tau clearance by impairing p62-mediated autophagy, a role carried out by the oligomerized form of β-arrestin2. Therefore, disclosed herein are β-arrestin oligomerization inhibitors that can be used to prevent β-arrestin oligomerization and therefore the accumulation of tau in cells, i.e. tauopathy. Also disclosed are methods of treating a tauopathy in a subject that involve administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of a β-arrestin oligomerization inhibitor disclosed herein.

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Tampa, FL, United States of America

Eric Lewandowski