MAPT and dementia: The gradual cognitive decline and eventual dementia due to AD is thought to relate to the increased deposition of insoluble protein aggregates in the form of extracellular senile plaques enriched with aggregated amyloid-β peptide (Aβ), and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) primarily comprised of hyperphosphorylated microtubule-associated protein tau (tau).