The cell biology of the retinal pigment epithelium

Aparna Lakkaraju; Ankita Umapathy; Li Xuan Tan; Lauren Daniele; Nancy J Philp; Kathleen Boesze-Battaglia; David S Williams

doi:10.1016/j.preteyeres.2020.100846

The cell biology of the retinal pigment epithelium

Prog Retin Eye Res. 2020 Feb 24:100846. doi: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2020.100846. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Aparna Lakkaraju¹, Ankita Umapathy², Li Xuan Tan¹, Lauren Daniele³, Nancy J Philp⁴, Kathleen Boesze-Battaglia³, David S Williams⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
² Department of Ophthalmology and Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
³ Department of Biochemistry, School of Dental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁴ Department of Pathology, Anatomy and Cell Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁵ Department of Ophthalmology and Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address: dswilliams@ucla.edu.

Abstract

The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), a monolayer of post-mitotic polarized epithelial cells, strategically situated between the photoreceptors and the choroid, is the primary caretaker of photoreceptor health and function. Dysfunction of the RPE underlies many inherited and acquired diseases that cause permanent blindness. Decades of research have yielded valuable insight into the cell biology of the RPE. In recent years, new technologies such as live-cell imaging have resulted in major advancement in our understanding of areas such as the daily phagocytosis and clearance of photoreceptor outer segment tips, autophagy, endolysosome function, and the metabolic interplay between the RPE and photoreceptors. In this review, we aim to integrate these studies with an emphasis on appropriate models and techniques to investigate RPE cell biology and metabolism, and discuss how RPE cell biology informs our understanding of retinal disease.

Keywords: Autophagy; Endosomes; Lysosomes; Metabolism; Organelles; Phagocytosis; Phagosome maturation.

Publication types

Review

Abstract

Publication types

Grants and funding