ArticleBMC cancer2015
Soluble EpCAM levels in ascites correlate with positive cytology and neutralize catumaxomab activity in vitro.
Article in BMC cancer, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Targeting the EpCAM-AXL axis to overcome drug resistance in lung cancer.Molecular oncology · 2026Article
- Uncovering potentially targetable genes in liver fibrosis via bioinformatics and experimental validation.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Higher EpCAM-Positive Extracellular Vesicle Concentration in Ascites Is Associated with Shorter Progression-Free Survival of Patients with Advanced High-Grade Serous Carcinoma.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- A Defucosylated Anti-EpCAM Monoclonal Antibody (EpMab-37-mGAntibodies (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Development of a Novel Anti-EpCAM Monoclonal Antibody for Various Applications.Antibodies (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Aptamer-based cell-free detection system to detect target protein.Synthetic and systems biotechnology · 2021Article
- Functional Implications of the Dynamic Regulation of EpCAM during Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition.Biomolecules · 2021Review
- Cancer-associated mutations reveal a novel role for EpCAM as an inhibitor of cathepsin-L and tumor cell invasion.BMC cancer · 2021Article
- Graphene/MoSMaterials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- YAP1 mediates gastric adenocarcinoma peritoneal metastases that are attenuated by YAP1 inhibition.Gut · 2021Article
- Detection and isolation of free cancer cells from ascites and peritoneal lavages using optically induced electrokinetics (OEK).Science advances · 2020Article
- 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
- EpCAM ectodomain EpEX is a ligand of EGFR that counteracts EGF-mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition through modulation of phospho-ERK1/2 in head and neck cancers.PLoS biology · 2018Article
- Enzyme-free ultrasensitive fluorescence detection of epithelial cell adhesion molecules based on a toehold-aided DNA recycling amplification strategy.RSC advances · 2018Article
- Immunotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma using chimeric antigen receptors and bispecific antibodies.Cancer letters · 2017Review
- Ascites modulates cancer cell behavior, contributing to tumor heterogeneity in ovarian cancer.Cancer science · 2016Review
- Detection of soluble EpCAM (sEpCAM) in malignant ascites predicts poor overall survival in patients treated with catumaxomab.Oncotarget · 2015Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEpCAM is highly expressed on membrane of epithelial tumor cells and has been detected as soluble/secreted (sEpCAM) in serum of cancer patients. In this study we established an ELISA for in vitro diagnostics to measure sEpCAM concentrations in ascites. Moreover, we evaluated the influence of sEpCAM levels on catumaxomab (antibody)--dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC).
methodsAscites specimens from cancer patients with positive (C+, n = 49) and negative (C-, n = 22) cytology and ascites of patients with liver cirrhosis (LC, n = 31) were collected. All cell-free plasma samples were analyzed for sEpCAM levels with a sandwich ELISA system established and validated by a human recombinant EpCAM standard for measurements in ascites as biological matrix. In addition, we evaluated effects of different sEpCAM concentrations on catumaxomab-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) with human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs) and human tumor cells.
resultsOur ELISA showed a high specificity for secreted EpCAM as determined by control HEK293FT cell lines stably expressing intracellular (EpICD), extracellular (EpEX) and the full-length protein (EpCAM) as fusion proteins. The lower limit of quantification was 200 pg/mL and the linear quantification range up to 5,000 pg/mL in ascites as biological matrix. Significant levels of sEpCAM were found in 39% of C+, 14% of C- and 13% of LC ascites samples. Higher concentrations of sEpCAM were detectable in C+ (mean: 1,015 pg/mL) than in C- (mean: 449 pg/mL; p = 0.04) or LC (mean: 326 pg/mL; p = 0.01). Soluble EpCAM concentration of 1 ng/mL significantly inhibited ADCC of PBMNCs on EpCAM overexpressing target cells.
conclusionElevated concentrations of sEpCAM can be found in a subgroup of C+ and also in a small group of C- patients. We consider that sEpCAM levels in different tumor entities and individual patients should be evaluated prior to applying anti-EpCAM antibody-based cancer therapies, since sEpCAM neutralizes catumaxomab activity, making therapy less efficient.
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