Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a blinding disease for which most of the patients remain untreatable. Since the disease affects the macula at the center of the retina, a structure specific to the primate lineage, rodent models to study the pathophysiology of AMD and to develop therapies are very limited. Consequently, our understanding relies mostly on genetic studies highlighting risk alleles at many loci. We are studying the possible implication of a metabolic imbalance associated with risk alleles within the SLC16A8 gene that encodes for a retinal pigment epithelium (RPE)-specific lactate transporter MCT3 and its consequences for vision. As a first approach, we report here the deficit in transepithelial lactate transport of a rare SLC16A8 allele identified during a genome-wide association study. We produced induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from the unique patient in our cohort that carries two copies of this allele. After in vitro differentiation of the iPSCs into RPE cells and their characterization, we demonstrate that the rare allele results in the retention of intron 2 of the SLC16A8 gene leading to the absence of MCT3 protein. We show using a biochemical assay that these cells have a deficit in transepithelial lactate transport.
Keywords: MCT3; age-related macular degeneration; induced pluripotent stem cells; lactate transport; retinal pigment epithelium; splicing.