Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a heterogeneous and progressive neurodegenerative disease which in Western societies mainly accounts for clinical dementia. A high proportion of women are affected by this disease, especially at a very advanced age, which might to a large extent be associated with the fact that women live longer. However, some studies suggest that incidence rates may be really increased in women. For this reason the influence of estrogens on the brain and the decrease of it during menopause are of special interest. After menopause, circulating levels of estrogens markedly decline, influencing several brain processes predicted to influence AD risk. The control of estrogens on oxidative stress, inflammation, and the cerebral vasculature might also be expected to increase AD risk. During the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study--a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of women 65-79 years of age--oral estrogen plus progestin was seen to double the rate of developing dementia, with risk appearing soon after the treatment was initiated. On the basis of current evidence, hormone therapy (HT) is thus not indicated for the prevention of AD. Inflammation clearly occurs in pathologically vulnerable regions of the AD brain and the search for genetic factors influencing the pathogenesis of AD has led to the identification of numerous gene polymorphisms that act as susceptibility modifiers. Accordingly, several reports have indicated that the risk of AD is substantially influenced by several genetic polymorphisms in the promoter region, or other untranslated regions, of genes encoding inflammatory mediators. Here we review several data suggesting that inflammatory genetic variation may contribute to higher AD susceptibility in women too. All together this information may represent the basis both for future recognition of individuals at risk as well as for a pharmacogenomic approach in achieving drug responsiveness.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in TLR genes may serve as a crucial marker for early susceptibility of various cancers including cervical cancer. The present study was therefore designed to ascertain the role of TLR4 and TLR9 SNPs and haplotypes to hrHPV infection and cervical cancer susceptibility. The study included 110 cervical cancer biopsies and 141 cervical smears from age-matched healthy controls of Gujarati ethnicity of Western India. hrHPV 16 and 18 were detected using Real-time PCR. Eight SNPs, four each in TLR4 and TLR9 were analyzed using Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism and Allele-Specific PCR. HPV 16 and 18 were detected in 68% cervical cancer cases. TLR4 rs4986790, rs1927911 and TLR9 rs187084 showed association with HPV 16/18 infection. CC and CT genotypes of TLR4 rs11536889 and rs1927911 respectively, and TC, CC genotypes of TLR9 rs187084, as well as minor alleles of TLR4 rs4986790 and TLR9 rs187084, were associated with the increased risk of cervical cancer. Stage-wise analysis revealed TLR9 rs187084 and rs352140 to be associated with early-stage cancer. TLR4 haplotype GTAC and TLR9 haplotype GATC were associated with the increased risk of cervical cancer while TLR4 haplotype GCAG was associated with the decreased risk. TLR4 haplotype GCAG and TLR9 haplotype GATC showed association with increased susceptibility to hrHPV infection. In conclusion, the present study revealed association of TLR4 and TLR9 polymorphisms and haplotypes with hrHPV infection and cervical cancer risk. Further evaluation of a larger sample size covering diverse ethnic populations globally is warranted.

Liver fat deposition related to systemic insulin resistance defines non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) which, when associated with oxidative hepatocellular damage, inflammation, and activation of fibrogenesis, i.e. non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), can progress towards cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Due to the epidemic of obesity, NAFLD is now the most frequent liver disease and the leading cause of altered liver enzymes in Western countries. Epidemiological, familial, and twin studies provide evidence for an element of heritability of NAFLD. Genetic modifiers of disease severity and progression have been identified through genome-wide association studies. These include the Patatin-like phosholipase domain-containing 3 (PNPLA3) gene variant I148M as a major determinant of inter-individual and ethnicity-related differences in hepatic fat content independent of insulin resistance and serum lipid concentration. Association studies confirm that the I148M polymorphism is also a strong modifier of NASH and progressive hepatic injury. Furthermore, a few large multicentre case-control studies have demonstrated a role for genetic variants implicated in insulin signalling, oxidative stress, and fibrogenesis in the progression of NAFLD towards fibrosing NASH, and confirm that hepatocellular fat accumulation and insulin resistance are key operative mechanisms closely involved in the progression of liver damage. It is now important to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying these associations between gene variants and progressive liver disease, and to evaluate their impact on the response to available therapies. It is hoped that this knowledge will offer further insights into pathogenesis, suggest novel therapeutic targets, and could help guide physicians towards individualised therapy that improves clinical outcome.