Tau (MAPT) Antibodies & Proteins — AT8, MC1 & Phospho-Tau for Tauopathy Research

Tau (encoded by MAPT) is the protein at the center of Alzheimer's disease pathology. In healthy neurons, tau stabilizes microtubules in axons. In tauopathies, tau becomes hyperphosphorylated, detaches from microtubules, and aggregates into the neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) that Alois Alzheimer first described over a century ago. Detecting which phosphorylation sites are occupied — and at what stage — is the foundation of modern tau research.

abinScience offers 60+ tau/MAPT products: the iconic AT8 antibody (pS202/pT205) for NFT detection, the MC1 antibody for disease-specific conformational tau, phospho-tau ELISA kits (pT181, pT217) for biofluid quantification, VHH nanobodies, and 8 biosimilar reference antibodies matching clinical-stage anti-tau therapeutics.

AT8: The Gold Standard for Neurofibrillary Tangles

If you have ever seen a textbook image of a neurofibrillary tangle stained brown in a brain section, it was almost certainly stained with AT8 or a similar phospho-tau antibody. AT8 recognizes tau phosphorylated at Ser202 and Thr205 — a dual-phosphorylation epitope that is among the earliest pathological modifications in Alzheimer's disease and is present in all Braak stages of tau pathology.

The AT8 epitope is the basis of the widely used Braak staging system for Alzheimer's neuropathology, making it one of the most cited antibodies in neuroscience history. abinScience offers a recombinant version of the AT8-equivalent antibody for IHC, IF, ELISA, and SPR applications:

Beyond AT8: The Tau Phosphorylation Map

Tau has over 80 potential phosphorylation sites, and different sites become modified at different stages of disease. AT8 (pS202/pT205) is the most established, but biofluid biomarker research has shifted attention to other phosphorylation sites that are more informative in living patients:

Anti-Tau Therapeutic Reference Antibodies

Anti-tau immunotherapy is one of the most active areas of Alzheimer's drug development. abinScience offers research-grade versions of clinical-stage anti-tau antibodies for PK/ADA assay development, competitive binding studies, and anti-idiotype antibody screening. All RUO — not for clinical use.

Pan-Tau Detection & Nanobodies

Antibodies that detect total tau protein regardless of phosphorylation status — for WB, ELISA, and flow cytometry. Nanobodies offer enhanced epitope access for detecting aggregated tau.

Tau Recombinant Proteins

Gene: MAPT  |  UniProt: P10636 (Human)  |  Molecular weight: 45–65 kDa (6 isoforms from alternative splicing; runs higher than predicted on SDS-PAGE due to low hydrophobicity)  |  Diseases: Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration

For research use only. Not intended for diagnostic or therapeutic use.