Polymorphisms of chemokine and chemokine receptor genes in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Patients

摘要

Introduction Several unrelated pathological, genetic, and epidemiological studies have provided an insight into the inflammatory mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of Alzeimer and Parkinson Disease. The inflammatory process is driven by activated microglia/ astrocytes and by proinflammatory molecules and related signaling pathways, which lead to further inflammatory cell activation. This cascade is mediated by pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines such as IL1, IL6, TNF alpha , MIP-1, MCP-1 and RANTES, which set up a noxious network for the neuron survival (1-3). Based on these findings, the major risk of developing the chronic process of degeneration in the brain may be influenced by genetic aspects i.e. the gene polymorphisms of inflammatory agents secreted by activated microglia/astrocyte cells in the nervous tissue and activated monocytes in the blood stream (4).