While the present work is the first to our knowledge to address the expression of putative intracellular cholesterol carriers (e.g. STARD1 and NPC1) in AD and DS and their correlation with pathological markers, the role of changes in total cholesterol levels in AD is controversial [2, 14], consistent with the unsettled impact of statins in the prevention or treatment of the disease, which will require further randomized controlled trials [22, 23]. The gene discussed is NPC1; the disease is Alzheimer disease.