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Correspondence
June 2013

TREM2, Frontotemporal Dementia–Like Disease, Nasu-Hakola Disease, and Alzheimer Dementia: A Chicken and Egg Problem?

Author Affiliations

Author Affiliations: BRAIN, Medical Science Post-Graduate Program, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre RS, Brazil.

JAMA Neurol. 2013;70(6):805-806. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2013.453

We read with great interest the article by Guerreiro et al1 on the loss of function of the triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) gene causing Nasu-Hakola disease (NHD) and some frontotemporal dementia (FTD)–like diseases.1,2 Recently, TREM2 allele variants were also found to be associated with Alzheimer disease (AD).3 However, NHD, FTD-like disease, and AD differ enormously regarding the mechanism of disease, clinical aspects, and neuropathological findings. How can these differences be conciliated?

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