Aquaporin 1 knockdown inhibits triple-negative breast cancer cell proliferation and invasion in vitro and in vivo

Aquaporin 1 (AQP1) contributes to the progression of several cancer types, but its potential involvement in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is unclear. The aim of the present study was to examine the role of AQP1 in cell proliferation and invasion in TNBC. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis and western blotting were used to detect AQP1 expression in different cell lines. A short hairpin (sh)RNA targeting AQP1 was established and transfected into MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. To investigate the effects of AQP1 knockdown, breast cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion were evaluated by Cell Counting Kit-8 and Transwell assays. Furthermore, the volume and weight of tumor xenografts in mice were measured to evaluate breast cancer growth ability. The results revealed that the levels of AQP1 were higher in the MDA-MB-231 cell line compared with those in other breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and SK-BR-3) and a normal mammary epithelial cell line (MCF-10A). The shRNA targeting AQP1 effectively downregulated AQP1 expression at the mRNA and protein levels, and markedly suppressed TNBC cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro, and tumor growth in vivo. These results suggested that AQP1 may serve as a potential therapeutic target in TNBC.