title: PAX6 MiniPromoters drive restricted expression from rAAV in the adult mouse retina.
abstract: Current gene therapies predominantly use small, strong, and readily available ubiquitous promoters. However, as the field matures, the availability of small, cell-specific promoters would be greatly beneficial. Here we design seven small promoters from the human paired box 6 (PAX6) gene and test them in the adult mouse retina using recombinant adeno-associated virus. We chose the retina due to previous successes in gene therapy for blindness, and the PAX6 gene since it is: well studied; known to be driven by discrete regulatory regions; expressed in therapeutically interesting retinal cell types; and mutated in the vision-loss disorder aniridia, which is in need of improved therapy. At the PAX6 locus, 31 regulatory regions were bioinformatically predicted, and nine regulatory regions were constructed into seven MiniPromoters. Driving Emerald GFP, these MiniPromoters were packaged into recombinant adeno-associated virus, and injected intravitreally into postnatal day 14 mice. Four MiniPromoters drove consistent retinal expression in the adult mouse, driving expression in combinations of cell-types that endogenously express Pax6: ganglion, amacrine, horizontal, and Müller glia. Two PAX6-MiniPromoters drive expression in three of the four cell types that express PAX6 in the adult mouse retina. Combined, they capture all four cell types, making them potential tools for research, and PAX6-gene therapy for aniridia.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the BC Children's Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Jack W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Hickmott
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the BC Children's Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Graduate Program in Bioinformatics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Chih-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the BC Children's Hospital, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Arenillas
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the BC Children's Hospital, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Andrea J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Korecki
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the BC Children's Hospital, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Siu Ling
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Laurie L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Molday
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the BC Children's Hospital, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Russell J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Bonaguro
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the BC Children's Hospital, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the BC Children's Hospital, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Alice Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the BC Children's Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mathelier
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, University of Florida , Gainesville, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Sanford L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Boye
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, University of Florida , Gainesville, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: William W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Hauswirth
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Molday
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the BC Children's Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Wyeth W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Wasserman
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the BC Children's Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Elizabeth M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Simpson