BCL2 and Alzheimer disease: Lower mRNA for the anti-apoptotic BCL2 we have consistently observed in the human AD CA1 area, in 12-month-old hippocampus, and in the brain cortex of 6- and 12-month-old mice (Figs. 4 and 5) might alter the balance of cell survival signaling, in agreement with the repeatedly demonstrated role of Bcl-2 in animal models of AD-type neurodegeneration induced by either genetic manipulation or neurotoxic insults [61, 62].