Overexpression of AQP5, a putative oncogene, promotes cell growth and transformation.

Overexpression of several aquaporins has been reported in different types of human cancer but the role of AQPs in human carcinogenesis has not yet been clearly defined. Here, we demonstrate that ectopic expression of human AQP5 (hAQP5), a water channel expressed in lung, salivary glands, and kidney, induces many phenotypic changes characteristic of transformation both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, the cell proliferative ability of AQP5 appears to be dependent upon the phosphorylation of a cAMP-protein kinase (PKA) consensus site located in a cytoplasmic loop of AQP5. In addition, phosphorylation of the PKA consensus site was found to be phosphorylated preferentially in tumors. These findings altogether indicate that hAQP5 plays an important role in human carcinogenesis and, furthermore, provide an attractive therapeutic target.