Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar 1;24(3):929-934.
doi: 10.31557/APJCP.2023.24.3.929.

The Relationship Between Expression of EpCAM Cancer Stem Cell Marker with Histopathological Grading, Lymphovascular Invasion, and Metastases in Colorectal Adenocarcinoma

Lenda Olivia Gaghana  1 , Upik Miskad  2 , Muhammad Husni Cangara  2 , Andi Alfian Zainuddin  3 , Mardiati Mardiati  4 , Gunawan Arsyadi  2 , Syarifuddin Wahid  2
Affiliations

The Relationship Between Expression of EpCAM Cancer Stem Cell Marker with Histopathological Grading, Lymphovascular Invasion, and Metastases in Colorectal Adenocarcinoma

Lenda Olivia Gaghana et al. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. .

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the expression of EpCAM in the colorectal adenocarcinoma.

Material and methods: This study used a cross-sectional design. One hundred and thirteen paraffin embedded block of Colorectal Adenocarcinoma were assessed using anti-EpCAM/Epithelial Specific Antigen (Ber-EP4) mouse monoclonal antibody and their expression were performed using Olympus CX-43 light microscope. The relationship between EpCAM expression with histopathological grade of colorectal adenocarcinoma, lymphovascular invasion and metastases ability were statistically analyzed by Chi-Square tests and presented in tables using SPSS 18.

Results: From 113 samples, in samples with lymphovascular invasion there were 37 samples (32.7%) with strong expression, while those with weak expression were 19 samples (16.8%). There were 39 samples with metastases and strong expression of EpCAM (34.5%), while 21 samples with weak expression (18.6%). There was a significant relationship between the expression of cancer stem cell marker EpCAM with lymphovascular invasion and colorectal adenocarcinoma metastases (p = 0.002), but there was no significant relationship with histopathological grade (p = 0.574).

Conclusion: The EpCAM expression can be used as a prognostic factor, and can be considered as a predictive or an option for target therapy in colorectal adenocarcinoma.

Keywords: Cancer stem cells; EpCAM; Metastases; colorectal adenocarcinoma; lymphovascular invasion.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors state that they have no conflicting interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
EpCAM Expression in Colorectal Adenocarcinoma. A-B, Strong; C-D, Moderate; E-F, Weak; G-H, Negative (400x Magnification).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abdelaziz LA, Megahed OA, Harb OA, Gertallah LA, Sallam AM. Stem Cell Markers Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule (EpCAM) and Cluster of Differentiation (CD44) Expression in Colon Cancer Patients in Relation to Prognosis and Survival. Int J Sci Res. 2017;6:994–1005.
    1. Aiman Mohtar M, Syafruddin SE, Nasir SN, Yew LT. Revisiting the roles of pro-metastatic epcam in cancer. Biomolecules. 2020:10. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Boesch M, Spizzo G, Seeber A. Concise Review: Aggressive Colorectal Cancer: Role of Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule in Cancer Stem Cells and Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition. Stem Cells Transl Med. 2018;7:495–501. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brown TC, Sankpal NV, Gillanders WE. Functional implications of the dynamic regulation of EpCAM during epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Biomolecules. 2021;11:1–22. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chai XB, Song RF, Xu F. Expression changes in epithelial cell adhesion molecule during colorectal cancer tumorigenesis. Genet Mol Res. 2015;14:7624–9. - PubMed

Substances