Browsing by keyword "Retinoids"
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Human gene therapy for RPE65 isomerase deficiency activates the retinoid cycle of vision but with slow rod kineticsThe RPE65 gene encodes the isomerase of the retinoid cycle, the enzymatic pathway that underlies mammalian vision. Mutations in RPE65 disrupt the retinoid cycle and cause a congenital human blindness known as Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA). We used adeno-associated virus-2-based RPE65 gene replacement therapy to treat three young adults with RPE65-LCA and measured their vision before and up to 90 days after the intervention. All three patients showed a statistically significant increase in visual sensitivity at 30 days after treatment localized to retinal areas that had received the vector. There were no changes in the effect between 30 and 90 days. Both cone- and rod-photoreceptor-based vision could be demonstrated in treated areas. For cones, there were increases of up to 1.7 log units (i.e., 50 fold); and for rods, there were gains of up to 4.8 log units (i.e., 63,000 fold). To assess what fraction of full vision potential was restored by gene therapy, we related the degree of light sensitivity to the level of remaining photoreceptors within the treatment area. We found that the intervention could overcome nearly all of the loss of light sensitivity resulting from the biochemical blockade. However, this reconstituted retinoid cycle was not completely normal. Resensitization kinetics of the newly treated rods were remarkably slow and required 8 h or more for the attainment of full sensitivity, compared with <1 h in normal eyes. Cone-sensitivity recovery time was rapid. These results demonstrate>dramatic, albeit imperfect, recovery of rod- and cone-photoreceptor-based vision after RPE65 gene therapy.
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The receptor-associated coactivator 3 activates transcription through CREB-binding protein recruitment and autoregulationTranscriptional coactivators are involved in gene activation by nuclear hormone receptors. The receptor-associated coactivator 3 (RAC3) was recently identified to be highly related to the steroid receptor coactivator-1 and transcriptional intermediate factor 2, thereby establishing a novel family of nuclear receptor coactivators. In this study, we identified a RAC3 fragment containing three LXXLL motifs conserved among this family, which is sufficient to mediate nuclear receptor interaction in vivo and in vitro. Point mutations that disrupt ligand-dependent activation function of the receptor inhibited the interaction. We found that a 162-amino acid fragment of RAC3 conferred transcriptional activation and recruited the CREB-binding protein and that three distinct LXXLL motifs mediated the transcriptional activation. A trimeric far Western analysis demonstrated the formation of a ternary complex containing CREB-binding protein, RAC3, and the receptor. In addition, we showed that RAC3, transcriptional intermediate factor 2, and steroid receptor coactivator-1 are expressed in specific tissues and cancer cells and that RAC3 transcript is directly up-regulated by retinoid treatment. These results suggest that RAC3 may contribute to amplified transcriptional responses through both recruitment of additional coactivators and autoregulation by the receptor-coactivator complex.
