Supplemental Table: Summary of Distribution of tau and TDP-43 Pathology in Brains and
Spinal Cords of Patients with CTE, ALS, and CTE with MND
CTE without
ALS without
CTE with MND
Controls (N = 12)
MND (N = 9)
CTE (N = 12)
(N = 3)
Brain* – tau
Abundant (1, 2)
Not stated **
Extensive
Not stated (2)+
Brain* – TDP-43
Extensive, less
Not stated ++
Abundant
Not stated; known
than CTE/ MND
from other sources
cases; or absent.
to be absent
The great
majority was not
tau positive.
There were no
inclusions in the
dentate gyrus.
Spinal cord - tau
Occasional
Rare neurites in
Present, most
Rare neurites, in 4
neurites and
1 of 12 cases, but
frequently in 2 of
of 12 controls
NFTs
no NFTs
the 3 cases
Spinal cord –
Occasional, in 2
Present in all
Abundant
TDP-43
of 5 cases
cases
None
CTE – chronic traumatic encephalopathy; MND – motor neuron disease; ALS – amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis; FTLD – frontotemporal lobar degeneration; PDC – parkinsonism-dementia vomplex; PSP –
progressive supranuclear palsy; CBD – corticobasal degeneration; NFT – neurofibrillary tangles; N –
number of patients (controls).
* Includes cerebrum, deep gray nuclei and brainstem.
** The cortices of most patients with ALS or with ALS/FTLD are tau-negative; Guamanian ALS/PDC is
an exception. There are tau-positive forms of FTLD that overlap with PSP and CBD.
+
Tau pathology is generally absent in normal control cerebral cortex.
++
TDP-43 immunoreactivity is abundant in motor cortex of patients with sporadic ALS, with greater
cortical distribution (extending beyond primary motor cortex) in patients with ALS/FTLD.
1.
McKee AC, Cantu RC, Nowinski CJ, et al. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy in athletes:
progressive tauopathy after repetitive head injury. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 2009;68:709-35
2.
McKee AC, Gavett BE, Stern RA, et al. TDP-43 proteinopathy and motor neuron disease in
chronic traumatic encephalopathy. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 2010;69:918-29