Increased expression of aquaporin 1 in human hemangioblastomas and its correlation with cyst formation

Aquaporins (AQPs) is a water channel family which facilitates the passage of water across cell membranes. Recently, expression of aquapporin 1 (AQP1) was found to be involved in not only water transport but also tumorigenesis. In present study, we analyzed the expression of AQP1 in 26 consecutive cases of human hemangioblastomas. Significant upregulation of AQP1 expression was found in hemangioblastomas compared with control brain (P=0.002). In hemangioblastomas, expression of AQP1 was predominantly localized on membranes of stromal cells. The expression level of AQP1 in cystic group of hemangioblastomas is much higher than that of solid group (P=0.021). Most hemangioblastomas showed a negative expression of AQP1 on endothelial cells. These results imply that increased expression of AQP1 in stromal cells may play a role in cyst formation and tumorigenesis of heman-gioblastomas.