ArticlePloS one2013
The use of sensitive chemical antibodies for diagnosis: detection of low levels of EpCAM in breast cancer.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
- MagSculptor: A Microfluidic Platform for High-Resolution Magnetic Fractionation of Low-Expression Cell Subtypes.Biosensors · 2026Article
- Magnetically Sculpted Microfluidics for Continuous-Flow Fractionation of Cell Populations by EpCAM Expression Level.Micromachines · 2025Article
- Article
- In vitro selection of aptamers and their applications.Nature reviews. Methods primers · 2023Article
- Recent advances in aptamer applications for analytical biochemistry.Analytical biochemistry · 2022Article
- Novel Detection of Nasty Bugs, Prevention Is Better than Cure.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Review
- Aptamers as a novel diagnostic and therapeutic tool and their potential use in parasitologyBiomedica : revista del Instituto Nacional de Salud · 2020Review
- In silico design and validation of high-affinity RNA aptamers targeting epithelial cellular adhesion molecule dimers.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2020Article
- Aptamer-guided extracellular vesicle theranostics in oncology.Theranostics · 2020Review
- Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better: Can Aptamers Replace Antibodies in Clinical Diagnostic Applications?Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Review
- Shedding light on the EpCAM: An overview.Journal of cellular physiology · 2019Review
- TNBC Challenge: Oligonucleotide Aptamers for New Imaging and Therapy Modalities.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2018Review
- Nanotechnology and Glycosaminoglycans: Paving the Way Forward for Ovarian Cancer Intervention.International journal of molecular sciences · 2018Review
- Epidermal growth factor receptor-targeted immune magnetic liposomes capture circulating colorectal tumor cells efficiently.World journal of gastroenterology · 2018Article
- Review
- Aptamer-siRNA Chimeras: Discovery, Progress, and Future Prospects.Biomedicines · 2017Review
- Aptahistochemistry in diagnostic pathology: technical scrutiny and feasibility.Histochemistry and cell biology · 2017Review
- Aptamers: versatile molecular recognition probes for cancer detection.The Analyst · 2016Review
- Targeting Th17 Cells with Small Molecules and Small Interference RNA.Mediators of inflammation · 2015Review
- EpCAM Aptamer-mediated Survivin Silencing Sensitized Cancer Stem Cells to Doxorubicin in a Breast Cancer Model.Theranostics · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
EpCAM is expressed at low levels in a variety of normal human epithelial tissues, but is overexpressed in 70-90% of carcinomas. From a clinico-pathological point of view, this has both prognostic and therapeutic significance. EpCAM was first suggested as a therapeutic target for the treatment of epithelial cancers in the 1990s. However, following several immunotherapy trials, the results have been mixed. It has been suggested that this is due, at least in part, to an unknown level of EpCAM expression in the tumors being targeted. Thus, selection of patients who would benefit from EpCAM immunotherapy by determining EpCAM status in the tumor biopsies is currently undergoing vigorous evaluation. However, current EpCAM antibodies are not robust enough to be able to detect EpCAM expression in all pathological tissues. Here we report a newly developed EpCAM RNA aptamer, also known as a chemical antibody, which is not only specific but also more sensitive than current antibodies for the detection of EpCAM in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded primary breast cancers. This new aptamer, together with our previously described aptamer, showed no non-specific staining or cross-reactivity with tissues that do not express EpCAM. They were able to reliably detect target proteins in breast cancer xenograft where an anti-EpCAM antibody (323/A3) showed limited or no reactivity. Our results demonstrated a more robust detection of EpCAM using RNA aptamers over antibodies in clinical samples with chromogenic staining. This shows the potential of aptamers in the future of histopathological diagnosis and as a tool to guide targeted immunotherapy.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.