Purpose: Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) are heterogeneous tumors with widely variable survival. It is unknown whether they express EpCAM (epithelial cell adhesion molecule) and thus whether NET circulating tumor cells (CTC) are detectable. We systematically investigated EpCAM expression and CTC detection in patients with metastatic NETs and evaluated the potential of CTCs to predict radiological

PURPOSE The present pilot study was conducted to detect putative cancer stem cell (CSC) from the hepatic portal system and peripheral blood in the colorectal cancer patients and to compare them to healthy donor and diverticulitis patients. METHODS Laboratory study was performed to identify the expression of cell surface markers, epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), cytokeratin (CK) 18, ...

PURPOSE Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) are heterogeneous tumors with widely variable survival. It is unknown whether they express EpCAM (epithelial cell adhesion molecule) and thus whether NET circulating tumor cells (CTC) are detectable. We systematically investigated EpCAM expression and CTC detection in patients with metastatic NETs and evaluated the potential of CTCs to predict radiological pr...

The selective detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is of significant clinical importance for the clinical diagnosis and prognosis of cancer metastasis. However, largely because of the extremely low number of CTCs (as low as 1 in 10(9) hematologic cells) in the blood of patients, effective detection and separation of the rare cells remain a tremendous challenge. Cell rolling is known to p...

Tyrolean Cancer Research Institute, Innsbruck, Austria Oncotyrol—Center for Personalized Cancer Medicine, Innsbruck, Austria Department of Haematology and Oncology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria Haemato-Oncological Day Hospital, Tappeiner Hospital, Merano, Italy Molecular Pathology Division, Institute of Pathology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland Department of Path...

Malignant ascites is frequently found with various solid tumors, and no established treatment options exist, apart from symptomatic paracentesis. Catumaxomab, a trifunctional bispecific monoclonal antibody, has two binding specificities directed to epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and the T cell antigen CD3. With its Fc-fragment, catumaxomab additionally binds accessory cells, includin...

The epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), or CD326, was one of the first cancer associated biomarkers to be discovered. In the last forty years, this biomarker has been investigated for use in personalized cancer therapy, with the first monoclonal antibody, edrecolomab, being trialled in humans more than thirty years ago. Since then, several other monoclonal antibodies have been raised to ...

Congenital tufting enteropathy (CTE) is a rare autosomal recessive diarrheal disorder where epithelial tufts can be present from the duodenum to the large intestine. CTE has been linked to mutations in the epithelial cell adhesion molecule gene (EpCAM) Sivagnanam et al. (2008). We recently reported the first case with a nonsense mutation in EpCAM Sivagnanam et al. (2010). Here, we explored the ...

We demonstrated the feasibility of a new methodology for isolating colonocytes from feces. To reduce costs and improve the recovery rate of colonocytes from feces, we attempted to develop new immunomagnetic beads. Several sizes of magnetic beads were prepared and tagged with a monoclonal antibody against EpCAM. We made several new monoclonal antibodies against EpCAM, and each monoclonal antibod...