ArticleBritish journal of cancer2006
Frequent high-level expression of the immunotherapeutic target Ep-CAM in colon, stomach, prostate and lung cancers.
Article in British journal of cancer, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 190 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
190 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 382 citations in OpenAlex.
- Clinicopathological and prognostic value of epithelial cell adhesion molecule in solid tumours: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Pooled it
- Histopathological and molecular predictors of growth patterns and recurrence in craniopharyngiomas: a systematic review.Neurosurgical review · 2020Pooled it
- A meta-analysis and The Cancer Genome Atlas data of prostate cancer risk and prognosis using epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) expression.BMC urology · 2019Pooled it
- Is Ep-CAM Expression a Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker for Colorectal Cancer? A Systematic Meta-Analysis.EBioMedicine · 2017Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Randomised phase II trial to investigate catumaxomab (anti-EpCAM × anti-CD3) for treatment of peritoneal carcinomatosis in patients with gastric cancer.British journal of cancer · 2018Trial
- Re-challenge with catumaxomab in patients with malignant ascites: results from the SECIMAS study.Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 2014Trial
- Catumaxomab with and without prednisolone premedication for the treatment of malignant ascites due to epithelial cancer: results of the randomised phase IIIb CASIMAS study.Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 2014Trial
- Treatment of gastric peritoneal carcinomatosis by combining complete surgical resection of lesions and intraperitoneal immunotherapy using catumaxomab.BMC cancer · 2014Trial
- The trifunctional antibody catumaxomab amplifies and shapes tumor-specific immunity when applied to gastric cancer patients in the adjuvant setting.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2013Trial
- Induction of anti-tumor immunity by trifunctional antibodies in patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2009Trial
- The TRAP complex (SSR1-SSR4): mechanistic roles and therapeutic opportunities.Annals of medicine · 2026Review
- Targeting the EpCAM-AXL axis to overcome drug resistance in lung cancer.Molecular oncology · 2026Article
- Development and Preclinical Evaluation of a Novel EpCAM-TargetedACS omega · 2026Article
- Wnt signaling-mediated activation of cancer cell stemness in thoracic SMARCA4-deficient undifferentiated tumor cells.Cell death discovery · 2026Article
- Docetaxel-Induced Immune Activation Shows Antitumor Synergy With the Tumor-Targeted CD40 Agonist KK2269.Cancer science · 2026Article
- Accessing the DNA in Breast Tissue: Adhesive Cell Capture from Flow onto Fibers of Cellulose Papers.ACS applied materials & interfaces · 2026Article
- Therapeutic application of IL-12 for cancer therapy.Translational cancer research · 2026Review
- EpCAM silencing suppresses aggressive phenotypes and induces partial redifferentiation in anaplastic thyroid cancer cells.PloS one · 2026Article
- Advancing CAR-T therapy in prostate cancer: overcoming the tumor microenvironment and enhancing efficacy.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
130 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (Ep-CAM; CD326) is used as a target by many immunotherapeutic approaches, but little data are available about Ep-CAM expression in major human malignancies with respect to level, frequency, tumour stage, grade, histologic tumour type and impact on survival. We analysed by immunohistochemical staining tissue microarrays with 4046 primary human carcinoma samples from colon, stomach, prostate and lung cancers for both frequency and intensity of Ep-CAM expression under highly standardised conditions. A total of 3360 samples were analysable. High-level Ep-CAM expression was observed in 97.7% (n=1186) of colon, 90.7% of gastric (n=473), and 87.2% of prostate cancers (n=414), and in 63.9% of lung cancers (n=1287). No detectable Ep-CAM staining was found with only 0.4% of colon, 2.5% of gastric, 1.9% of prostate cancers, and 13.5% of lung cancers. The only significant correlation of Ep-CAM expression with tumour grading was observed in colon cancer where high-level Ep-CAM expression on grade 3 tumours was down to 92.1% (P<0.0001). Adenosquamous and squamous carcinomas of the lung had a lower percentage of high-level Ep-CAM expression compared to adenocarcinomas with 35.4 and 53.6%, respectively, and with 45.5 and 17.3% of tumours being Ep-CAM negative. With the exception of moderately differentiated colon carcinoma, where patients not expressing Ep-CAM on their tumours showed an inferior survival (P=0.0014), correlation of Ep-CAM expression with survival did not reach statistical significance for any of the other cancer indications and subgroups. In conclusion, the data strongly support the notion that Ep-CAM is a prime target for immunotherapies in major human malignancies. This is because the most common human cancers show (i) a low frequency of Ep-CAM-negative tumours, (ii) a high frequency of Ep-CAM expression on cells of a given tumour, and (iii) for most cancers, an insignificant influence of tumour staging, grading and histology on Ep-CAM expression.
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