Glycogen synthase kinase-3beta, or a link between amyloid and tau pathology?

Phosphorylation is the most common post-translational modification of cellular proteins, essential for most physiological functions. Deregulation of phosphorylation has been invoked in disease mechanisms, and the case of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is no exception: both in the amyloid pathology and in the tauopathy are kinases deeply implicated. The glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) isozymes participate in diverse cellular processes and important signalling pathways and have been implicitly linked to diverse medical problems, i.e. from diabetes and cancer to mood disorders and schizophrenia, and in the neurodegeneration of AD. Here, we review specific aspects of GSK-3 isozymes in the framework of recent data that we obtained in novel transgenic mouse models that robustly recapitulate the pathology and mechanistical problems of AD.