申请人:INSERM (INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA SANTÉ ET DE AL RECHERCHE MÉDICALE)
公开号:US20220265659A1
公开(公告)日:2022-08-25
The present invention relates to an agent for increasing PAX6 gene and/or protein expression in a subject in need thereof. The insertion of a nonsense mutation found in patients allowed inventors to identify altered gene expression of PAX6 target genes, enhanced cell adhesion and reduced cell migration and proliferation. Remarkably, these parameters were rescued by recombinant PAX6 protein. Using this unique cellular model in which they inserted multiple copies of PAX6 responsive elements and tdTomato, they screened a FDA-approved library and identified in a first hit, 3 small compounds that enhance production of PAX6 protein while two of them did not modulate PAX6 gene expression. More particularly, they observed that the small compounds efficiently rescue in vitro migration of mutated limbal cells. Moreover, in the art, it is known that a decrease of PAX6 leads to an induction of diabetes. Small compounds identified by the inventors are suitable to treat PAX6-related deficiencies diseases such as aniridia and diabetes.