As other proteins specifically enriched in the apical or basal high risk RPE EVs (SLC2A1, RELN, TPI1, EEF2, COL1A2, SQSTM1 and LGALS3BP) have been associated in the literature with AMD, this further validates our findings (Hongisto et al., 2017; Kim et al., 2014; Kim et al., 2018; Rinsky et al., 2021; Viiri et al., 2013; Xu et al., 2019; Zuo et al., 2012). The gene discussed is SQSTM1; the disease is age-related macular degeneration.