The Role of PEDF in the Eye, Bone, and Nervous and Immune Systems

This review highlights recent findings on the versatile inactive serpin protein, pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) in the eye, bone, and nervous and immune systems. PEDF is highly conserved and found at the 17p13.3 locus in humans. PEDF initially discovered in the eye, also has critical roles in the bone including de novo bone regeneration. It is also involved in the nervous system, with roles in such widespread and increasing-in-prevalence conditions such as depression, orchestrating the immune system, coordinating immune cells, and warding off disease. This manuscript comprehensively reviews the protein, listing a majority of all the publicly available studies reported, to date, in these four separate body systems. It thus showcases PEDF's versatility in the human body. It also highlights the applicability of PEDF peptides, shorter in length, and in some cases just as potent as the parent protein in these discussed ailments.