These findings confirm and expand an our previous study that led us to hypothesize that homotaurine exerts a protective effect in early AD by modulating inflammatory pathways, since MCI patients supplemented with homotaurine showed decreased circulating levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-18 and improved short-term episodic memory performance as measured by the recency effect of the RWLLT immediate recall. The gene discussed is IL18; the disease is Alzheimer disease.