APP and Alzheimer disease: Other than neurogenesis, Sox-2 is proposed to act as a protective factor in AD, as (1) it interacts with APP and mediates α-secretase activation in human cells, (2) its down-regulation in adult mouse brains induces neurodegeneration, and (3) its expression is down-regulated in the brains of AD patients (Sarlak et al, 2016; Sarlak & Vincent, 2016).” The expression of Sox-2 was the only one that was significantly different between male Tg-AD and WT male rats.