TY - JOUR
T1 - Aquaporins
T2 - Their role in gastrointestinal malignancies
AU - Nagaraju, Ganji Purnachandra
AU - Basha, Riyaz
AU - Rajitha, Balney
AU - Alese, Olatunji Boladale
AU - Alam, Afroz
AU - Pattnaik, Subasini
AU - El-Rayes, Bassel
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Georgia Cancer Coalition (# 00026700 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
PY - 2016/4/1
Y1 - 2016/4/1
N2 - Aquaporins (AQPs) are small (~30 kDa monomers) integral membrane water transport proteins that allow water to flow through cell membranes in reaction to osmotic gradients in cells. In mammals, the family of AQPs has thirteen (AQP0-12) unique members that mediate critical biological functions. Since AQPs can impact cell proliferation, migration and angiogenesis, their role in various human cancers is well established. Recently, AQPs have been explored as potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets in gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. GI cancers encompass multiple sites including the colon, esophagus, stomach and pancreas. Research in the last three decades has revealed biological aspects and signaling pathways critical for the development of GI cancers. Since the majority of these cancers are very aggressive and rapidly metastasizes, identifying effective targets is crucial for treatment. Preclinical studies have utilized inhibitors of specific AQPs and knock down of AQP expression using siRNA. Although several studies have explored the role of AQPs in colorectal, esophageal, gastric, hepatocellular and pancreatic cancers, there is no comprehensive review compiling the available information on GI cancers as has been published for other malignancies such as ovarian cancer. Due to the similarities and association of various sites of GI cancers, it is helpful to consider these results collectively in order to better understand the role of specific AQPs in critical GI cancers. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the role of AQPs in GI malignancies with particular focus on diagnosis and therapeutic applications.
AB - Aquaporins (AQPs) are small (~30 kDa monomers) integral membrane water transport proteins that allow water to flow through cell membranes in reaction to osmotic gradients in cells. In mammals, the family of AQPs has thirteen (AQP0-12) unique members that mediate critical biological functions. Since AQPs can impact cell proliferation, migration and angiogenesis, their role in various human cancers is well established. Recently, AQPs have been explored as potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets in gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. GI cancers encompass multiple sites including the colon, esophagus, stomach and pancreas. Research in the last three decades has revealed biological aspects and signaling pathways critical for the development of GI cancers. Since the majority of these cancers are very aggressive and rapidly metastasizes, identifying effective targets is crucial for treatment. Preclinical studies have utilized inhibitors of specific AQPs and knock down of AQP expression using siRNA. Although several studies have explored the role of AQPs in colorectal, esophageal, gastric, hepatocellular and pancreatic cancers, there is no comprehensive review compiling the available information on GI cancers as has been published for other malignancies such as ovarian cancer. Due to the similarities and association of various sites of GI cancers, it is helpful to consider these results collectively in order to better understand the role of specific AQPs in critical GI cancers. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the role of AQPs in GI malignancies with particular focus on diagnosis and therapeutic applications.
KW - Aquaporins
KW - Biomarker
KW - Gastrointestinal cancer
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84958074636&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.canlet.2016.01.003
DO - 10.1016/j.canlet.2016.01.003
M3 - Review article
C2 - 26780474
AN - SCOPUS:84958074636
VL - 373
SP - 12
EP - 18
JO - Cancer Letters
JF - Cancer Letters
SN - 0304-3835
IS - 1
ER -