THE HOMEOBOX GENE CHX10/VSX2 REGULATES RDCVF PROMOTER ACTIVITY IN THE INNER RETINA 1 2 1 1 Sacha ReichmanP ,P Ravi Kiran Reddy KalathurP ,P Sophie LambardP ,P Najate Ait-Ali , 3 2 2 2 1,3 Yanjiang Yang , Aurélie LardenoisP ,P Raymond RippP P Olivier PochP ,P Donald J. ZackP ,P 1 1 José-Alain SahelP P and Thierry Léveillard*P .P 1 Department of Genetics, Institut de la Vision, INSERM T Université Pierre et Marie Curie- 2 Paris6, UMR-S 968, Paris, F-75012 France,TP Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire 3 et Cellulaire T (IGBMC),T 67404T Illkirch CEDEXT TFrance,P Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 600 N. Wolfe St. T Baltimore,T T MD 21287 USA. *Corresponding author: Thierry Léveillard, Department of Genetics, Institut de la Vision, INSERM, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR-S 968, CNRS 7210, Paris, F-75012 France. Tel : 33 1 53 46 25 48, Fax : 33 1 53 46 25 02, Email :
[email protected] ABSTRACT Rod-derived Cone Viability Factor (RdCVF) is a trophic factor with therapeutic potential for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa, a retinal disease that commonly results in blindness. RdCVF is encoded by Nucleoredoxin-like 1 (Nxnl1), a gene homologous with the family of thioredoxins that participate in the defense against oxidative stress. RdCVF expression is lost after rod degeneration in the first phase of retinitis pigmentosa, and this loss has been implicated in the more clinically significant secondary cone degeneration that often occurs. Here we describe a study of the Nxnl1 promoter using an approach that combines promoter and transcriptomic analysis.