BIN1 and Alzheimer’s disease: the tau connection

Bridging integrator 1 (BIN1) is a ubiquitously expressed protein that plays a critical role in endocytosis, trafficking and cytoskeletal dynamics. In 2010, BIN1 gene was reported as a major genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD), which shifted the focus on its physiological and pathophysiological roles in the brain (at a time when data available were scarce). In this review, we discuss the multiple cerebral roles of BIN1, especially in regulating synaptic function, and the strong link between BIN1 and tau pathology, supported by recent evidence ranging from genetic and clinical/postmortem observations to molecular interactions.