Cigarette smoke extract and palmitic acid exposed patient-derived iPS- RPE cells as a model for AMD

Cigarette smoke extract and palmitic acid increase dose-dependent death and polarity disruption in patient-derived iPSC-RPE cells, with dry AMD lines showing greater susceptibility.

• Why it matters: AMD progression involves RPE dysfunction, and smoking plus high-fat/lipid stress are linked to risk, but their combined effects on AMD-derived RPE cells are not well defined.
• What they did: Non-AMD and AMD donor iPSCs were differentiated into polarized RPE monolayers, then exposed to CSE and/or PA; outcomes included viability, EMT-like morphology, ZEB1/NQO1/IL8 expression, TEER, ZO-1/Best1 polarity, PEDF/VEGF-A secretion, and intracellular lipid accumulation.
• The result: CSE and PA induced EMT-like changes, stress gene upregulation, reduced PEDF and VEGF-A secretion, and increased lipid accumulation; combined exposure produced more pronounced effects in AMD lines.

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