Background Tau is an axonal protein that binds to and regulates microtubule function. Hyper-phosphorylation of Tau reduces its binding to microtubules and it is associated with β-amyloid deposition in Alzheimer’s disease. Paradoxically, Tau reduction may prevent β-amyloid pathology, raising the possibility that Tau mediates intracellular Aβ clearance. The current studies investigated the role of Tau in autophagic and proteasomal intracellular Aβ1-42 clearance and the subsequent effect on plaque deposition. Results Tau deletion impaired Aβ clearance via autophagy, but not the proteasome, while introduction of wild type human Tau into Tau−/− mice partially restored autophagic clearance of Aβ1-42, suggesting that exogenous Tau expression can support autophagic Aβ1-42 clearance. Tau deletion impaired autophagic flux and resulted in Aβ1-42 accumulation in pre-lysosomal autophagic vacuoles, affecting Aβ1-42 deposition into the lysosome. This autophagic defect was associated with decreased intracellular Aβ1-42 and increased plaque load in Tau−/− mice, which displayed less cell death. Nilotinib, an Abl tyrosine kinase inhibitor that promotes autophagic clearance mechanisms, reduced Aβ1-42 only when exogenous human Tau was expressed in Tau−/− mice. Conclusions These studies demonstrate that Tau deletion affects intracellular Aβ1-42 clearance, leading to extracellular plaque. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1750-1326-9-46) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
