Regulation of the Function and Expression of EpCAM

Overview

Journal Biomedicines

Specialty Biomedical Engineering

Date 2024 May 25

PMID 38791091

Authors

Di Xiao

Mingrui Xiong

Xin Wang

Mengqing Lyu

Hanxiang Sun

Yeting Cui

Chen Chen

Ziyu Jiang

Fan Sun

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is a single transmembrane protein on the cell surface. Given its strong expression on epithelial cells and epithelial cell-derived tumors, EpCAM has been identified as a biomarker for circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and exosomes and a target for cancer therapy. As a cell adhesion molecule, EpCAM has a crystal structure that indicates that it forms a cis-dimer first and then probably a trans-tetramer to mediate intercellular adhesion. Through regulated intramembrane proteolysis (RIP), EpCAM and its proteolytic fragments are also able to regulate multiple signaling pathways, Wnt signaling in particular. Although great progress has been made, increasingly more findings have revealed the context-specific expression and function patterns of EpCAM and their regulation processes, which necessitates further studies to determine the structure, function, and expression of EpCAM under both physiological and pathological conditions, broadening its application in basic and translational cancer research.

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