What is EpCAM of a cell?
Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is a transmembrane glycoprotein mediating Ca2+-independent homotypic cell–cell adhesion in epithelia. EpCAM is also involved in cell signaling, migration, proliferation, and differentiation.
Do endothelial cells express EpCAM?
A significant fraction of EpCAM-positive cells, however, are also positive for the endothelial cell marker, CD31pos, possibly due to the very vascularized nature of the lung epithelium and the tight association of cells at the endothelial–epithelial interface (26).
Do macrophages express EpCAM?
demonstrated that, actually, macrophages can acquire expression of epithelial markers (cytokeratins, EpCAM) as well as stem cell markers (Oct4) upon phagocytosis of apoptotic cancer cells (16).
Is EPCAM a mismatch repair gene?
EPCAM is not an MMR gene, but structural alterations in EPCAM may lead to LS as it is adjacent to the MSH2 gene (9). In LS, the deletion of heterozygote sequences at the 3′ end of EPCAM can lead to the inactivation of MSH2 in tissues expressing EPCAM due to its promoter hypermethylation (12).
What are EpCAM positive cells?
The epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM, CD326) is a glycoprotein of ∼40 kd that was originally identified as a marker for carcinoma, attributable to its high expression on rapidly proliferating tumors of epithelial origin.
What gene is associated with Lynch syndrome?
Usually, a gene called the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) gene finds and fixes the errors before they damage the cell. People with Lynch syndrome have a mutation in the MMR gene, which means the errors are less likely to be found and fixed, which increases the risk of developing certain cancers.
Why do cadherins need calcium?
Cadherins depend on calcium for their function: removal of calcium abolishes adhesive activity and renders cadherins vunerable to proteases. Cadherins generally mediate monotypic cell-cell adhesion although heterotypic binding between different cadherin molecules is possible. They act as both receptor and ligand.
What does EpCAM stand for?
EpCAM (epithelial cell adhesion molecule) is a type I transmembrane glycoprotein, which was originally identified as a tumor‑associated antigen due to its high expression level in rapidly growing epithelial tumors. Germ line mutations of the human EpCAM gene have been indicated as the cause of congenital tufting enteropathy.
What are the effects of homozygous mutations in EpCAM?
Notably, only homozygous mutations in epcam result in loss of EpCAM expression combined with morphological abnormalities, as has been shown in knock-out mice ( Section 4.1) and CTE (see below). Thus, while EpCAM is often associated with cancer progression, it might be secondary to tumor formation in some tumors.
What are the in vivo functions of EpCAM?
Previous studies based on cell models have revealed that EpCAM contributes to various biological processes including cell adhesion, signaling, migration and proliferation. Due to the previous lack of genetic animal models, the in vivo functions of EpCAM remain largely unknown.
Is EpCAM a promising therapeutic target for oncogenes?
Glycosylation of the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is well documented (20) and has been proposed as promising therapeutic target (21). EpCAM is also involved in a signaling pathway that activates the expression of c-MYC and other oncogenes (22). …