BCHE and Alzheimer disease: This is a noteworthy finding in light of inconsistent and generally negative reports of association for AD with ACHE and related genes encoding choline acetyltransferase (CHAT) and butyrylcholinesterase (BCHE), despite the fact that AD is characterized by an extensive loss of cholinergic neurons from the basal forebrain area and the wide use of cholinesterase inhibitors to treat the early stages of cognitive decline [50].