MAPT and Alzheimer disease: However, given that microtubule destabilization in neuronal axons attenuates synaptic plasticity and may also lead to neuronal apoptosis and thus causing clinical symptoms of AD (Bendiske et al., 2002; Conde and Cáceres, 2009; Tu et al., 2014), our findings here suggest that Aβ induces the CDK2-mediated phosphorylation of tau and is then responsible for microtubule destabilization ultimately to promote neuronal apoptosis.