IL1B and Alzheimer disease: To test whether the decrease in the number of overactivated astrocytes would relate to a decrease in the gene expression of inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1β and IL-6, in the brains of P2Y1-shRNA-treated AD mice, we performed qPCR analyses using primers for IL-1β and IL-6 and observed the reduction of IL-1β and IL-6, significantly (Fig. 5, H and I).