However, when gene expression was evaluated in PBMCs from AD patients and compared with that of PBMCs from healthy subjects of the same age (C1), LDL-R and APP mRNAs were most abundant in AD compared to C1 whereas SREBP-2 and particularly nCEH were present at much lower RNA levels in AD-PBMCs. Here, NCEH1 is linked to Alzheimer disease.