Expression and clinical significance of aquaporin-1, vascular endothelial growth factor and microvessel density in gastric cancer

To investigate the expression and clinical significance of aquaporin-1 (AQP1), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and microvessel density (MVD) in gastric cancer. A total of 79 gastric cancer patients who were admitted into Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital from January, 2018 to December, 2019 were involved in this study. Tumor specimens and para-cancerous normal tissues (> 2 cm away from the tumor) of all the enrolled patients were collected. Immunohistochemistry were performed to identify the expression of AQP1, VEGF, and MVD and the correlation between AQP1, VEGF, MVD, and clinicopathological parameters was analyzed. The expression of AQP1, VEGF and MVD in gastric cancer tissue was increased significantly compared with those in para-cancerous tissue (P < .05). AQP1, VEGF, and MVD were closely correlated with gastric cancer differentiation, lymph node metastasis, vascular tumor thrombosis and clinical stage (P < .05). Spearman correlation analysis showed that AQP1 was positively associated with VEGF expression (r = 0.497, P < .05). MVD was enhanced in VEGF or AQP1 positive cancer tissues compared with that in VEGF or AQP1 negative tissue (P < .05). Synergistic effect among AQP1, VEGF, and MVD is involved in occurrence and development of gastric cancer.