MAPT and Alzheimer disease: In this regard, we should mention that the hypertrophy of cortical neurons and their nuclei and nucleoli in asymptomatic Alzheimer's disease may represent an early reaction to the presence of neurotoxic Aβ or tau, or a compensatory mechanism that prevents the progression of the disease into dementia (Iacono et al., 2008; Riudavets et al., 2007).