In an effort to harness these protective effects, we have designed neuroprotective peptides from PEDF, namely 17-mer and its variant H105A (see Fig. 1A), which target PEDF-R and are involved in mitigating calcium overload in degenerating photoreceptors associated with RP (29–33). The gene discussed is PNPLA2; the disease is retinitis pigmentosa 1.