Journal
STEM CELL RESEARCH
Volume 27, Issue -, Pages 95-104Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.scr.2018.01.014
Keywords
iPSC-RPE; Lipofuscin; A2E; VEGF-A; Inflammation
Funding
- Research to Prevent Blindness
- National Institutes of Health [R01EY022658, P30EY011373]
- Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate, young investigator student fellowship award for female scholars in vision research
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Accumulation of lipofuscin in the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) is observed in retinal degenerative diseases including Stargardt disease and age-related macular degeneration. Bis-retinoid N-retinyl-N-retinylidene ethanolamine (A2E) is a major component of lipofuscin. A2E has been implicated in RPE atrophy and retinal inflammation; however, mice with A2E accumulation display only a mild retinal phenotype. In the current study, human iPSC-RPE (hiPSC-RPE) cells were generated from healthy individuals to examine effects of A2E in human RPE cells. hiPSC-RPE cells displayed RPE-specific features, which include expression of RPE-specific genes, tight junction formation and ability to carry out phagocytosis. hiPSC-RPE cells demonstrated cell death and increased VEGF-A production in a time-dependent manner when they were cocultured with 10 mu M of A2E. PCR array analyses revealed upregulation of 26 and 12 pro-inflammatory cytokines upon A2E and H2O2 exposure respectively, indicating that A2E and H2O2 can cause inflammation in human retinas. Notably, identified gene profiles were different between A2E- and H2O2-treated hiPSC-RPE cells. A2E caused inflammatory changes observed in retinal degenerative diseases more closely as compared to H2O2. Collectively, these data obtained with hiPSC-RPE cells provide evidence that A2E plays an important role in pathogenesis of retinal degenerative diseases in humans. (c) 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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