Aquaporins and diseases pathogenesis: From trivial to undeniable involvements, a disease‐based point of view

Abstract

Aquaporins (AQPs), as transmembrane proteins, were primarily identified as water channels with the ability of regulating the transmission of water, glycerol, urea, and other small‐sized molecules. The classic view of AQPs involvement in therapeutic plan restricted them and their regulators into managing only a narrow spectrum of the diseases such as diabetes insipidus and the syndrome of inappropriate ADH secretion. However, further investigations performed, especially in the third millennium, has found that their cooperation in water transmission control can be manipulated to handle other burden‐imposing diseases such as cirrhosis, heart failure, Meniere's disease, cancer, bullous pemphigoid, eczema, and Sjögren's syndrome.