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Fig. 6 VCP immunoreactivity is decreased in the cortices of AD patients. a VCP Immunoreactivity was decreased while p-Tau (S202/T205) immunoreactivity was increased in the cortical neurons of AD patients compared to normal subject. The nuclei were counterstained with hematoxylin. Arrowheads (white) indicate neurons. Scale bars = white, 20 ?m; black, 20 ?m. b The levels of VCP and p-Tau (S202/T205) were inversely correlated in the cortex of AD patients (N = 3) and control subjects (N = 3). c VCP mRNA expression level (normalized to GAPDH) was significantly decreased in the frontal cortices of AD patients (AD, N = 7) compared to control subjects (Ctrl, N = 7). d A schematic illustrating possible mechanisms by which increased autophagy induced by VCP in the presence of phosphorylated Tau. VCP may play an essential role in facilitating the autophagy flux for Tau clearance, potentially by the initiation of the autophagy (1), binding to LC3 (2), the fusion of the autophagosome and the lysosome (3), and/or enhanced lysophagy (4). See the main text for details. The diagram was created with BioRender.com. Student t test, **p < 0.01. Data are presented as mean ± SEM