Concise Review: Aggressive Colorectal Cancer: Role of Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule in Cancer Stem Cells and Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. In spite of various attempts to ameliorate outcome by escalating treatment, significant improvement is lacking particularly in the adjuvant setting. It has been proposed that cancer stem cells (CSCs) and the epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) are at least partially responsible for therapy resistance in CRC. The epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) was one of the first CSC antigens to be described. Furthermore, an EpCAM‐specific antibody (edrecolomab) has the merit of having launched the era of monoclonal antibody treatment in oncology in the 1990s. However, despite great initial enthusiasm, monoclonal antibody treatment has not proven successful in the adjuvant treatment of CRC patients. In the meantime, new insights into the function of EpCAM in CRC have emerged and new drugs targeting various epitopes have been developed. In this review article, we provide an update on the role of EpCAM in CSCs and EMT, and emphasize the potential predictive selection criteria for novel treatment strategies and refined clinical trial design. stem cells translational medicine 2018;7:495–501

Genome-Wide RNAi Screen Identifies PMPCB as a Therapeutic Vulnerability in EpCAM+ Hepatocellular Carcinoma

“…EpCAM is a biomarker to define progenitor cells of the liver and other organs; it has been shown to activate Wnt signaling during hepatic development (17,18). Pathophysiologically, EpCAM expression is associated with a stem cell-like HCC subtype with poor prognosis, and EpCAM þ HCC cells have been demonstrated as cancer stem cells (CSC; ref.…”

The Cuban Propolis Component Nemorosone Inhibits Proliferation and Metastatic Properties of Human Colorectal Cancer Cells

“…Since one of the peculiar features of CRC is its metastatic and invasive capacity [39], the wound healing assay and transwell migration and invasion assays were performed in HT-29 and LoVo cells treated with NEM or CP (IC 50 /72 h) for 24 h. As shown in Figure 7, wounds after 24 h of exposure to NEM and CP were wider than in untreated cells, indicating the inhibitory effect of NEM and CP on the motility of CRC cells. Furthermore, the results of the transwell assay with/without Matrigel after 24 h of treatment indicated that both NEM and CP significantly reduced the migration and invasion capability of HT-29 and LoVo cells with respect to untreated cells ( Figure 8).…”

Ping-Pong—Tumor and Host in Pancreatic Cancer Progression

“…The epithelial cell adhesion molecule EpCAM, overexpressed in many epithelial cancer, serves as diagnostic and therapeutic target (392). EpCAM mediates homophilic cell-cell adhesion (393,394) and fulfills condition-dependent distinct functions (395). An initial, straight-forward explanation that oncogenic FIGURE 7 | EpCAM, claudin7 and their cooperation in PaCa.…”