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Aquaporins in colorectal cancer: exploring their role in tumorigenesis, metastasis, and drug response

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Abstract

Aquaporins (AQPs) are small, integral proteins facilitating water transport across plasma cell membranes in response to osmotic gradients. This family has 13 unique members (AQP0-12), which can also transport glycerol, urea, gases, and other salute small molecules. AQPs play a crucial role in the regulation of different cellular processes, including metabolism, migration, immunity, barrier function, and angiogenesis. These proteins are found to aberrantly overexpress in various cancers, including colorectal cancer (CRC). Growing evidence has explored AQPs as a potential diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target in different cancers. However, there is no comprehensive review compiling the available information on the crucial role of AQPs in the context of colorectal cancer. This review highlights the significance of AQPs as the biomarker and regulator of tumor cells metabolism. In addition, the proliferation, angiogenesis, and metastasis of tumor cells related to AQPs expression as well as function are discussed. Understanding the AQPs prominent role in chemotherapy resistance is of great importance clinically.

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Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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  1. Maryam Azimi Mohammadabadi and Ali Moazzeni are co-first authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Maryam Azimi Mohammadabadi

  2. Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Maryam Azimi Mohammadabadi

  3. Department of Hematology, Faculty of Allied Medicine, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran

    Ali Moazzeni

  4. Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran

    Leila Jafarzadeh

  5. Antimicrobial Resistance Research Center, Institute of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Fatemeh Faraji

  6. Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, 451 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON K1H 8M5, Canada, Ottawa, Canada

    Amir Hossein Mansourabadi

  7. University of Ottawa, Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Ottawa, 451 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON K1H 8M5, Canada, Ottawa, Canada

    Amir Hossein Mansourabadi

  8. Breast Health & Cancer Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Elahe Safari

  9. Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Elahe Safari

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  1. Maryam Azimi Mohammadabadi
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  5. Amir Hossein Mansourabadi
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  6. Elahe Safari
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All authors contributed to the study’s conception and wrote the manuscript. A.M. prepared the figures. E.S. reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors have read the manuscript and agreed to publish it.

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Azimi Mohammadabadi, M., Moazzeni, A., Jafarzadeh, L. et al. Aquaporins in colorectal cancer: exploring their role in tumorigenesis, metastasis, and drug response. Human Cell 37, 917–930 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13577-024-01078-7

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