A kinetic model predicts that tau-catalyzed A$β$ nucleation can raise oligomer burden without increasing plaque volume

Abstract

Tau and amyloid-$β$ (A$β$) deposits co-occur in Alzheimer's disease, and tau fibrils have recently been shown in vitro to catalyze A$β$ primary nucleation in a fold-specific manner. A two-compartment kinetic model is developed here, describing tau aggregation within the neuronal soma and A$β$ aggregation in the surrounding interstitium. The adjustable coupling parameter is the fraction f$_{acc}$ of somatic tau fibrillar material accessible to interstitial A$β$. Homotypic A$β$ secondary nucleation is restricted to the accessible surface of the consolidating plaque rather than scaling with total fibril mass, which preserves the in vitro calibration of the rate constant while preventing the surface term from growing without bound over decades. Three model predictions emerge. First, the model predicts that tau-catalyzed nucleation can increase the soluble A$β$ oligomer concentration and the number of A$β$ fibrillar species, by factors of 4.6 and 2.0, respectively, at complete accessibility, while leaving total A$β$ fibril mass and plaque volume unchanged, since in the absence of clearance these are fixed by the monomer supply; oligomer burden and visible plaque burden are therefore decoupled. Second, the predicted effect requires substantial accessibility: a 50 % increase in accumulated oligomer exposure needs f$_{acc}$ $\approx$ 0.035-0.15, which is difficult to reconcile with tangles enclosed by an intact neuronal membrane and points instead to neuronal lysis and the formation of extracellular ghost tangles. Third, physiologically relevant oligomer dissociation and proteolytic turnover each suppress accumulated exposure, by approximately three orders of magnitude and, at zero tau accessibility, about seventyfold, respectively, and remove the effect on a biological-age measure entirely.