Abstract

Down syndrome (DS) is the most genetic cause of mental retardation and is caused by the triplication of chromosome 21. In addition to the disabilities caused early in life, DS is also noted as causing Alzheimer's-disease-like pathological changes in the brain, leading to 50-70% of DS patients showing dementia by 60-70 years of age. Inflammation is a complex process that has a key role to play in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. There is relatively little understood about inflammation in the DS brain and how the genetics of DS may alter this inflammatory response and change the course of disease in the DS brain. The goal of this review is to highlight our current understanding of inflammation in Alzheimer's disease and predict how inflammation may affect the pathology of the DS brain based on this information and the known genetic changes that occur due to triplication of chromosome 21.

Document Type

Review

Publication Date

2012

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Current Gerontology and Geriatrics Research, v. 2012, article ID 170276, p. 1-10.

Copyright © 2012 Donna M. Wilcock. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/170276

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