The GLP-1 agonist exenatide, has been shown to alleviate brain IR in AD by modifying the pattern of IRS-1 phosphorylation (Bomfim et al., 2012) and be neuroprotective against a variety of neurodegenerative diseases and stroke (Li et al., 2009; Martin et al., 2009; Tweedie et al., 2012). This evidence concerns the gene IRS1 and neurodegenerative disease.