ATG12 and spinocerebellar ataxia 7: PBMCs from PD patients displayed a reduced expression of the chaperone-mediated autophagy carrier hsc70 protein [68] and results from PBMCs from ALS patients are contradictory: No significant difference of Beclin-1, LC3 immunoreactivity and mRNA Atg12 expression was observed between patients and controls although PBMC displayed a clear macroautophagy induction following exposure to rapamycin and lithium [69], while other data showed that the expression of the early autophagy-associated gene ATG12 was increased in PBMC from SCA7 patients in correlation with disease severity [70].