BDNF and Alzheimer disease: Their findings reveal that BDNF deficiency in AD pathogenesis arises from 2 distinct molecular mechanisms: impaired proteolytic processing of pro-BDNF into biologically active mature BDNF, and miRNA-mediated posttranscriptional repression of BDNF gene expression.[146] Consequently, the regulatory influence of miRNAs on BDNF signaling must be integrated into the development of BDNF-targeted acupuncture therapies for AD.