A Bioinformatics Analysis of the Potential Roles of Aquaporin 4 in Human Brain Tumors: An Immune-Related Process

• Main Authors: Shuang Zou, Yu-Long Lan, Tong Ren, Xiangyu Li, Lijun Zhang, Hongjin Wang, Xun Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-05-01
• Series: Frontiers in Pharmacology
• Subjects: aquaporin 4; human brain tumors; tumorigenesis; immunoinformatics; CD8 + T-cell
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2021.692175/full

Aquaporin 4 (AQP4) is an ubiquitously expressed membrane protein channel found in the central nervous system and mainly on astrocytes. Recent studies on AQP4 has implicated it in tumorigenesis. It is of interest to determine the potential value of AQP4 in identifying, guiding treatment and prognosticating various types of CNS cancers. This investigation systematically investigated the oncogenic role of AQP4 across 33 CNS tumors found in GEO and TCGA datasets. We found that CNS tumors strongly expressed AQP4. There appeared to be a strong link between the prognosis of patients with a CNS malignancy and degree of AQP4 expression. AQP4 expression influences the degree of CD8+ T-cell infiltration level as well as cancer-associated fibroblast infiltration in CNS tumors. Moreover, synaptic vesicle cycle and phosphatidylinositol signaling system-associated functions were also found to be related to AQP4 functional mechanisms. Furthermore, potential AQP4 inhibitors have also been explored by using Specs data base and virtual screening technique. This study contributes toward current knowledge regarding the role of AQP4 in CNS tumors.