REG3A and neurodegenerative disease: For validation, we chose three upregulated (calpain 6 [CAPN6], galanin 1 [GALA1] and pancreatitis associated protein 1[PAP1]) and three downregulated (collagen 1 alpha 2 [COL1A2], collagen 3 alpha 1 [COL3A1] and melatonin receptor 1b [MTNR1B]) genes that had previously been reported to be associated with prion and other neurodegenerative diseases [34], [35], [36], [37], [38], [39], [40].