BDNF and Alzheimer disease: One factor may be neurotrophic support, and the vulnerability of EC to AD-type neurodegeneration has been attributed to the dysregulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and the ARMS/Kidins220 scaffold protein, both of which are critical for neurotrophic support to the EC (Criscuolo et al., 2015; Scharfman and Chao, 2013).