The dissemination of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) requires the Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal transition (EMT), in which cells lose their epithelial characteristics and acquire more mesenchymal-like phenotypes. Current isolation of CTCs relies on affinity-based approaches reliant on the expression of Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule (EpCAM). Here we show EMT-induced breast cancer cells maintained...

Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), a cancer stem cell (CSC) marker is over expressed in epithelial cancers and in retinoblastoma (RB). We fabricated an EpCAM targeting aptamer-siRNA chimera and investigated its anti-tumor property and EpCAM intracellular domain (EpICD) mediated signaling in epithelial cancer. The anti-tumor efficacy of EpCAM aptamer-siEpCAM chimera (EpApt-siEp) was eval...

Congenital tufting enteropathy (CTE) is a life-threatening hereditary disease that is characterized by enteric mucosa tufting degeneration and early onset, severe diarrhea. Loss-of-function mutations of the human EPCAM gene (TROP1, TACSTD1) have been indicated as the cause of CTE. However, loss of mTrop1/Epcam in mice appeared to lead to death in utero, due to placental malformation. This and i...

The epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is overexpressed in a wide variety of tumor types, including peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) from gastrointestinal and gynecological malignancies. To develop a chimeric antigen receptor T (CART) cell therapy approach to treat patients with end-stage PC, we constructed third generation CARs specific to EpCAM using the 4D5MOC-B single chain variable fr...

Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule (EpCAM) is a transmembrane glycoprotein that is associated with various cancers. Most normal, non-pathological epithelial tissue is EpCAM positive with the exception of epidermal keratinocytes, gastric parietal cells, myoepithelial cells, thymic cortical epithelial, and hepatocytes. However, during early liver development EpCAM expression is also observed. In o...

The epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is a membrane glycoprotein that is expressed in most normal human epithelia and overexpressed in most carcinomas. This molecule is responsible for cell-to-cell adhesion and additionally participates in signalling, cell migration, proliferation and differentiation. Therefore, EpCAM has been the target of immunotherapy in clinical trials of several so...

BACKGROUND To specifically deliver paclitaxel (PTX) to retinoblastoma (RB) cells, the anionic surface-charged poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) NPs loaded with paclitaxel were conjugated with epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) antibody for enhancing site-specific intracellular delivery of paclitaxel against EpCAM overexpressing RB cells. METHODS PTX-loaded PLGA NPs were prepared by ...

background: proliferation and expansion of cancer stem cells as spheroids were proved in previous studies. but, capability of primary tumor-derived stem cells to keep their unique properties in vitro is still disputed. so, the goal of this study was to isolate, expand and characterize of colon cancer-derived stem cells. material and methods: in the present work, colon cancer stem cells markers ...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is believed to originate from cancer stem cells (CSCs). While epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is a marker of normal hepatic stem cells (HSCs), EpCAM+ cells from HCC behave like CSCs. Since HCC mostly develops on a cirrhotic background, we sought to determine whether CSC-like EpCAM+ cells exist in patients with advanced cirrhosis. Both flow cytometry and ...

In the human fetal kidney (HFK) self-renewing stem cells residing in the metanephric mesenchyme (MM)/blastema are induced to form all cell types of the nephron till 34(th) week of gestation. Definition of useful markers is crucial for the identification of HFK stem cells. Because wilms' tumor, a pediatric renal cancer, initiates from retention of renal stem cells, we hypothesized that surface a...