Ubiquitin is a component of neurofibrillary tangles in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases

Ubiquitin has been shown to be a component of neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer's disease. We now show immunocytochemically that it is also a component of neurofibrillary tangles in several other neurodegenerative diseases of diverse aetiology, including Down's syndrome, dementia pugilistica and postencephalitic parkinsonism, and in normal ageing. Ubiquitin immunoreactivity is not, however, generally found in the neurofibrillary tangles of progressive supranuclear palsy. These findings show that while associated ubiquitin is not a feature unique to the tangles of Alzheimer's disease, it is not simply a non-specific response to the presence of an inclusion body within the cell. The observations suggest that ubiquitin may have an important role in the formation of neurofibrillary tangles in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases.