Expression of aquaporin 3 and vascular endothelial growth factor in transitional cell carcinoma-urinary bladder

Introduction Dysregulation of aquaporins (AQPs) is thought to be involved in urothelial carcinogenesis and progression. Angiogenesis is necessary for the growth and subsequent metastasis of transitional cell carcinoma. However, whether there is a positive association in transitional cell carcinoma has not yet been established. This research was conducted to analyze the expression of AQP3 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in transitional cell carcinoma with a view toward its development and progression and to correlate them with clinicopathological parameters. Patients and methods This is a retrospective, selected, controlled study carried on 55 pure transitional cell carcinoma cases from January 2010 to December 2017 to assess the immunohistochemical expression of the AQP3 and VEGF and to correlate them with various clinicopathological parameters. Results AQP3 expression showed positive expression in normal urothelium (100%), 90% in carcinoma in situ (CIS) cases, whereas in transitional cell carcinoma, it was detected in 52.7% of cases. AQP3 expression is lower in transitional cell carcinoma cases than CIS and normal mucosa ( P <0.05). VEGF was not detected in either normal urothelium or CIS, whereas 39 cases of transitional cell carcinoma (70.1%) showed positive expression. Expression of VEGF was significantly higher in bladder cancer specimens than that of normal urothelium and CIS ( P <0.01). AQP3 expression was inversely correlated with grade of urothelial cancer ( P =0.711), tumor size ( P =0.272), depth of invasion ( P =448) and TNM stage ( P =0.364). VEGF was significantly correlated with the grade of transitional cell carcinoma ( P =0.332), depth of invasion ( P =0.290), and TNM stage ( P =0.456). A significant correlation was detected between AQP3 and VEGF expression in transitional cell carcinoma. Conclusion The results suggested that AQP3 expression to be involved in transitional cell carcinogenesis and progression via its association with VEGF.