The brain response to the original viral insult is a crucial aspect of the pathogenesis of AIDS dementia. The study of host gene expression in HIV-1 associated brain disease will facilitate establishing new paradigms and mechanisms for pathogenesis. HIV with only 9 genes is able to destroy its host with more than 30,000 genes. We used gene chip technology (Affymetrix) of brain tissue from AIDS ...

Astrocytes contribute to the maintenance of the health and function of the central nervous system (CNS). Thus, it is not surprising that these multifunctional cells have been implicated in the onset and progression of several neurodegenerative diseases. The involvement of astrocytes in the neuropathology of these diseases is likely a consequence of both the loss of normal homeostatic functions ...

To the Editor: Guerreiro et al.1 and Jonsson et al.2 (Jan. 10 issue) report an association between the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs75932628 in the gene encoding the triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) (predicting an R47H substitution) and Alzheimer’s disease in persons of European ancestry. We and other members of the Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium assem...