Systemic ablation of the Stim2 gene protects against hypoxic neuronal cell death (Berna-Erro et al., 2009) and reduced levels of STIM2 in a presenilin-1 mouse model of Alzheimer's disease accounts for a decrease in the fraction of mature (mushroom) dendritic spines in hippocampal neurons (Sun et al., 2014). This evidence concerns the gene STIM2 and early-onset autosomal dominant Alzheimer disease.