AQP5 Is a Novel Prognostic Biomarker in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

BackgroundPancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) is a highly malignant tumor with a poor prognosis. The identification of effective molecular markers is of great significance for diagnosis and treatment. Aquaporins (AQPs) are a family of water channel proteins that exhibit several properties and play regulatory roles in human carcinogenesis. However, the association between Aquaporin-5 (AQP5) expression and prognosis and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in PAAD has not been reported.MethodsAQP5 mRNA expression, methylation, and protein expression data in PAAD were analyzed using GEPIA, UALCAN, HAP, METHSURV, and UCSC databases. AQP5 expression in PAAD patients and cell lines from our cohort was examined using immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. The LinkedOmics database was used to study signaling pathways related to AQP5 expression. TIMER and TISIDB were used to analyze correlations among AQP5, tumor-infiltrating immune cells, and immunomodulators. Survival was analyzed using TCGA and Kaplan–Meier Plotter databases.ResultsIn this study, we investigated AQP5 expression in PAAD and determined whether the expression of AQP5 is a strong prognostic biomarker for PAAD. We searched and analyzed public cancer databases (GEO, TCGA, HAP, UALCAN, GEPIA, etc.) to conclude that AQP5 expression levels were upregulated in PAAD. Kaplan–Meier curve analysis showed that high AQP5 expression positively correlated with poor prognosis. Using TIMER and TISIDB, we found that the expression of AQP5 was associated with different tumor-infiltrating immune cells, especially macrophages. We found that hypomethylation of the AQP5 promoter region was responsible for its high expression in PAAD.ConclusionsAQP5 can serve as a novel biomarker to predict prognosis and immune infiltration in PAAD.

Overexpression of OAS1 Is Correlated With Poor Prognosis in Pancreatic Cancer

“…Song et al found that the pyrolysis-related gene CASP4 can lead to the progression of pancreatic cancer by promoting fatty acid synthesis and accumulation (32). Other markers, such as AQP5, CDC25C, and TMEM170B, have been proved to be associated with the prognosis of pancreatic cancer (33)(34)(35). A specific single gene, or a group of genes, can predict the prognosis of the tumor in a corresponding way.…”

Clinical diagnosis and management of pancreatic cancer: Markers, molecular mechanisms, and treatment options

“…The expression of aquaporin-5, a water channel protein, is increased in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD), which is positively associated with the infiltration of different immune cells ( e.g. , macrophages) in tumors and poor prognosis of PAAD patients[ 90 ]. A bioinformatics study showed that overexpression of matrix metallopeptidase 14 and collagen XII alpha 1 is significantly related to the poor prognosis of PAAD patients[ 91 ].…”

Expression of aquaporin 1, 3 and 5 in colorectal carcinoma: correlation with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis

“…In addition, AQPs have extensive interactions with oncogenes and proteins [10]. Recent research has proved that AQPs were strongly expressed in a variety of human tumors, including, renal cell carcinoma [11], prostate cancer [12], breast cancer [13], pancreatic adenocarcinoma [14], and lung cancer [15].…”