Background: Recent studies suggested that aquaporins 5 (AQP5) was associated with many kinds of cancers and regulated many processes of various kinds of cancer cells. Our previous studies also demonstrated that AQP5 was highly expressed in epithelial ovarian cancer and contributed to the progress of ovarian cancer.
Methods: Lentivirus for knocking-down the expression of AQP5 was prepared and verified by qPCR and Western blotting. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK8) assay and transwell assay were performed to investigate the role of AQP5 on proliferation and migration of 3AO cells. The effects of down-regulating AQP5 on tumorigenesis were tested by tumor xenografts experiments.
Results: An effective lentivirus silencing AQP5 expression was obtained and used in this study. Down-regulating AQP5 inhibited proliferation and migration of cultured human epithelial ovarian cancer 3AO Cell. Furthermore, interfering of AQP5 during tumorigenesis could efficiently decrease the tumor growth in athymic mice.
Conclusions: These findings altogether suggest that AQP5 regulated multi processes in ovarian carcinogenesis and may be an attractive therapeutic target.