Toll-like receptor 2 (
TLR2) represents a reasonable functional and positional candidate gene for Alzheimer's disease (AD) as it is located under the linkage region of AD on chromosome 4q [
1], and is functionally involved in the microglia-mediated inflammatory response and amyloid β (Aβ) clearance [
2‐
6]. Genetic studies on the
TLR2 gene have identified a number of polymorphisms which have been shown to affect host defense, disease progression and be linked to differential disease susceptibilities [
7]. We have assessed the involvement of 7 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (Arg 677Trp, Arg753Gln, rs1898830, rs11938228, rs3804099, rs3804100, and rs7656411) as well as a short tandem GT repeat polymorphism in intron 2 of the
TLR2 gene in the risk of developing late-onset AD (LOAD) [
8,
9], and found an association of GT repeat polymorphism with an increased risk for LOAD in our previous studies. A 22-bp nucleotide deletion at position -196 to -174 of the untranslated 5'-region in
TLR2 gene is associated with reduced transcriptional activity compared to the wild type allele in luciferase reporter assays [
10]. This polymorphism has already been shown to be associated with an increased risk of noncardiac gastric cancer, susceptibility to cervical cancer, hepatitis C viral loads and susceptibility to hepatocellular carcinoma [
11‐
13]. In light of the important role that TLR2 plays with respect to the immune response in the pathogenesis of AD [
2‐
6], we hypothesized that the -196 to -174 del/ins polymorphism in the
TLR2 gene might be associated with AD.