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Medical AI Inquiry: You was designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.  Labels: BACKGROUND, RESULTS. Meshes: Animals, Cell Survival, Cells, Cultured, Chick Embryo, Computer Simulation, Culture Media, Conditioned, Eye Proteins, Humans, Immunohistochemistry, In Situ Hybridization, Mice, Models, Molecular, Molecular Sequence Data, Photoreceptor Cells, Vertebrate, Phylogeny, Protein Isoforms, Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells, Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells, Retinitis Pigmentosa, Sequence Alignment, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Sequence Analysis, Protein, Sequence Homology, Amino Acid, Thioredoxins.
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Is rod-derived Cone Viability Factor-2 a novel bifunctional-thioredoxin-like protein with therapeutic potential? Context: Cone degeneration is the hallmark of the inherited retinal disease retinitis pigmentosa. We have previously identified a trophic factor "Rod-derived Cone Viability Factor (RdCVF) that is secreted by rods and promote cone viability in a mouse model of the disease. Here we report the bioinformatic identification and the experimental analysis of RdCVF2, a second trophic factor belonging to the Rod-derived Cone Viability Factor family. The mouse RdCVF gene is known to be bifunctional, encoding both a long thioredoxin-like isoform (RdCVF-L) and a short isoform with trophic cone photoreceptor viability activity (RdCVF-S). RdCVF2 shares many similarities with RdCVF in terms of gene structure, expression in a rod-dependent manner and protein 3D structure. Furthermore, like RdCVF, the RdCVF2 short isoform exhibits cone rescue activity that is independent of its putative thiol-oxydoreductase activity.
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Taken together, these findings define a new family of bifunctional genes which are: expressed in vertebrate retina, encode trophic cone viability factors, and have major therapeutic potential for human retinal neurodegenerative diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa. Final Decision: yes