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Description

Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (UniProt: P16422, also known as Ep-CAM, Adenocarcinoma-associated antigen, Cell surface glycoprotein Trop-1, Epithelial cell surface antigen, Epithelial glycoprotein, EGP, Epithelial glycoprotein 314, EGP314, hEGP314, KS 1/4 antigen, KSA, Major gastrointestinal tumor-associated protein GA733-2, Tumor-associated calcium signal transducer 1, CD326) is encoded by the EPCAM (also known as GA733-2, M1S2, M4S1, MIC18, TACSTD1, TROP1) gene (Gene ID: 4072) in human. EpCAM is single-pass type I membrane monomeric protein that may act as a physical homophilic interaction molecule between intestinal epithelial cells and intraepithelial lymphocytes at the mucosal epithelium for providing immunological barrier as a first line of defense against mucosal infection. EpCAM is synthesized with a signal peptide (aa 1-23), which is subsequently cleaved off to generate the mature form that contains an extracellular domain (aa 24-265), a short transmembrane domain (aa 266-288), and the cytoplasmic domain (aa 289-314). It plays a role in embryonic stem cells proliferation and differentiation. It is selectively expressed by undifferentiated cells and its levels decline rapidly upon embryonic stem cell differentiation. Its expression is observed in almost all epithelial cell membranes, but not on mesodermal or neural cell membranes. EpCAM is reported to be essential for carcinogenesis in numerous types of human cancer. It is shown to be expressed on the surface of adenocarcinoma. On carcinoma tissue it is found in a hyperglycosylated state. Glycosylation at asparagine 198 is shown to be essential for its stability. In murine models, clone EpMab-16 is reported to exerts antitumor activity on colorectal adenocarcinoma and significantly reduces tumor growth in oral squamous cell carcinoma. Mutations in EPCAM gene have been linked to hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer 8 that is characterized by a familial predisposition to early-onset colorectal carcinoma and extra-colonic tumors of the gastrointestinal, urological, and female reproductive tracts. (Ref.: Hosono, H., et al. (2020). Oncol. Lett. 20(6), 383, Kaneko, MK., et al. (2020). Oncol. Rep. 44(6), 2517-2526, Lu, TY., et al. (2010). J. Biol. Chem. 285(12), 8719-8732).