While the majority of OA have tau deposition within the EC (Braak and Braak, 1997; Maass et al., 2017; Schöll et al., 2016), the spread of tau to alEC-connected cortex may be one of the first signs of AD or a related neurodegenerative disease such as primary age related tauopathy (PART). Here, MAPT is linked to neurodegenerative disease.