Decreased expression of aquaporin 1 correlates with clinicopathological features of patients with cervical cancer

• Main Authors: Wei M, Yu H, Zhang Y, Zeng J, Cai C, Shi R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2019-04-01
• Series: OncoTargets and Therapy
• Subjects: Aquaporin 1; cervical cancer; tissue microarray; immunohistochemistry.
• Online Access: https://www.dovepress.com/decreased-expression-of-aquaporin-1-correlates-with-clinicopathologica-peer-reviewed-article-OTT

Min Wei,1 Hailang Yu,2 Yanling Zhang,3 Jun Zeng,2 Cuixia Cai,2 Rong Shi21Clinical Laboratory, Nanshan Maternity & Child Healthcare Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518067, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510010, People’s Republic of ChinaPurpose: We aimed to investigate the expression dynamics of Aquaporin 1 (AQP1) in cervical cancer and evaluate correlations among AQP1 levels and the clinicopathological features of patients with cervical cancer.Patients and methods: AQP1 mRNA and protein levels in cervical cancer and adjacent normal tissues were evaluated by quantitative reverse-transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blot. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) for AQP1 was performed with a tissue microarray of cervical cancer (containing 63 cases of squamous cell cervical cancers and 10 normal cervical tissues) to investigate clinicopathological outcomes. Cut-off scores for positive expression of AQP1 were determined by receiver operating characteristic analysis. The χ2, test was used to analyze correlations among AQP1 expression and clinicopathological features of cervical cancer.Results: The expression of AQP1 was decreased in the majority of cervical cancer tissues by qRT-PCR and western blot analysis. Positive expression of AQP1 was observed in 100% (10/10) of normal cervical tissues and in 42.86% (27/63) of cervical cancer tissues by IHC analysis. The cut-off score for positive expression of AQP1 was determined to be 45% of cancer cells. Decreased expression of AQP1 was correlated with clinicopathological features including; poor pathological grade (P=0.000), late International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage (P=0.008), and positive lymph nodes (P=0.002).Conclusion: These data suggest that decreased expression of AQP1 correlated with progressive features in patients with cervical cancer. AQP1 levels may serve as a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of cervical cancer.Keywords: aquaporin 1, cervical cancer, tissue microarray, immunohistochemistry