BDNF and Alzheimer disease: However, the rescue effect of ZEB85 is highly relevant from a potential therapeutic prospective, particularly with respect to the fact that BDNF protein and mRNA levels are reduced in AD patients (Hock et al., 2000), and that BDNF protects neurons against Aβ toxicity and prevents dendritic spine abnormalities in AD mouse models both in vivo (de Pins et al., 2019) and in vitro (Meng et al., 2013).