EpCAM is overexpressed in breast cancer and is a potential target for breast cancer gene therapy.

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Osta, Walid A. Chen, Yian Mikhitarian, Kaidi Mitas, Michael C. Salem, Mohamed Abouelmagd
Copyright Year	2004
Abstract	EpCAM (epithelial cell adhesion molecule) is a cell surface molecule that is known to be highly expressed in colon and other epithelial carcinomas. EpCAM is involved in cell-to-cell adhesion and has been the target of antibody therapy in several clinical trials. To assess the value of EpCAM as a novel target for breast cancer gene therapy, we performed real-time reverse transcription-PCR to quantify the level of EpCAM mRNA expression in normal breast tissue and primary and metastatic breast cancers. We found that EpCAM is overexpressed 100- to 1000-fold in primary and metastatic breast cancer. Silencing EpCAM gene expression with EpCAM short interfering RNA (siRNA) resulted in a 35-80% decrease in the rate of cell proliferation in four different breast cancer cell lines. EpCAM siRNA treatment decreased cell migration by 91.8% and cell invasion by 96.4% in the breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 in vitro. EpCAM siRNA treatment was also associated with an increase in the detergent-insoluble protein fraction of E-cadherin, alpha-catenin, and beta-catenin, consistent with the known biology of EpCAM as a regulator of cell adhesion. Our hypothesis is that modulation of EpCAM expression can affect cell migration, invasion, and proliferation by enhancing E-cadherin-mediated cell-to-cell adhesion. These data provide compelling evidence that EpCAM is a potential novel target for breast cancer gene therapy and offer insights into the mechanisms associated with EpCAM gene silencing.
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Alternate Webpage(s)	http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/canres/64/16/5818.full.pdf?origin=publication_detail
Alternate Webpage(s)	http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/canres/64/16/5818.full.pdf
PubMed reference number	15313925v1
Volume Number	64
Issue Number	16
Journal	Cancer research
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Breast Cancer Cell Cadherins Carcinoma breast stage IV Catenins Cell Adhesion Molecules Cell Proliferation Cultured Cell Line Detergents Eighty Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule Epithelial Cells Gene Expression Gene Silencing In Vitro [Publication Type] Mammary Gland Parenchyma Mammary Neoplasms Oncogenes RNA, Small Interfering Reverse Transcription Wnt signaling pathway involved in midbrain dopaminergic neuron differentiation alpha Catenin beta catenin conversion of ds siRNA to ss siRNA involved in chromatin silencing by small RNA type I interferon receptor
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article