NIH R01 · 2025
Proline metabolism in retinal health
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly. A common feature in AMD is the early damage of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), a monolayer of cells between photoreceptors and choroid. RPE controls nutrient transport from choroid blood supply to the outer retina and multiple lines of evidence show that the altered metabolism in RPE is the underlying mechanism for AMD. The long-term goal of this project is to identify key metabolic features of RPE and the roles that they play in AMD. We recently found that besides glucose, RPE preferentially uses proline, an amino acid, to fuel its metabolism. Mutations of enzymes in proline…
From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.