Table 1.

Lactate transporters

Transporter	Function	High affinity substrates	Cell expression
SLC16A1/MCT1	H+‐coupled electroneutral transporter	Lactate, pyruvate, ketone bodies	Epithelial cells, macrophages, CD8+ lymphocytes, cancer cells
SLC16A7/MCT2	H+‐coupled electroneutral transporter	Pyruvate, lactate, ketone bodies	Epithelial cells, cancer cells
SLC16A8/MCT3	H+‐coupled electroneutral transporter	Lactate	Epithelial cells (highly expressed in the retina)
SLC16A3/MCT4	H+‐coupled electroneutral transporter	Lactate, pyruvate, ketone bodies	Epithelial cells, fibroblasts, macrophages, cancer cells
SLC5A8/SMCT1	Na+‐coupled electroneutral transporter	Lactate, pyruvate, propionate, butyrate, nicotinate, and short‐chain fatty acids	Epithelial cells (mainly kidney, intestine, brain)
SLC5A12/SMCT2	Na+‐coupled electroneutral transporter	Lactate, pyruvate, propionate, butyrate, nicotinate, and short‐chain fatty acids	Epithelial cells (mainly kidney, intestine, brain), CD4+ lymphocytes