Laboratory of Rare Human Circulating Cells (LCCRH), University Medical Centre of Montpellier, 34295 Montpellier, France.
Cells. 2020 Aug 5;9(8):1836. doi: 10.3390/cells9081836.
In the last few decades, the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) has received increased attention as the main membrane marker used in many enrichment technologies to isolate circulating tumor cells (CTCs). Although there has been a great deal of progress in the implementation of EpCAM-based CTC detection technologies in medical settings, several issues continue to limit their clinical utility. The biology of EpCAM and its role are not completely understood but evidence suggests that the expression of this epithelial cell-surface protein is crucial for metastasis-competent CTCs and may not be lost completely during the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. In this review, we summarize the most significant advantages and disadvantages of using EpCAM as a marker for CTC enrichment and its potential biological role in the metastatic cascade.
在过去的几十年中，上皮细胞黏附分子（EpCAM）作为许多富集技术中用于分离循环肿瘤细胞（CTC）的主要膜标记物，受到了越来越多的关注。尽管在医学环境中实施基于 EpCAM 的 CTC 检测技术已经取得了很大进展，但仍有几个问题继续限制其临床应用。EpCAM 的生物学及其作用尚未完全被理解，但有证据表明，这种上皮细胞表面蛋白的表达对具有转移能力的 CTC 至关重要，并且在上皮细胞-间充质转化过程中可能不会完全丢失。在这篇综述中，我们总结了使用 EpCAM 作为 CTC 富集标记物的最重要的优缺点，以及其在转移级联反应中的潜在生物学作用。
