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The overexpression of Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) in glioma

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Abstract

Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is overexpressed in various neoplasms as a tumor-associated antigen and absent in natural brain. However, little is known about EpCAM’s expression in gliomas. To investigate the expression of EpCAM in gliomas and understand the correlation of EpCAM expression with malignancy, proliferation, angiogenesis, and prognosis, we studied the expression of EpCAM in 98 glioma samples by immunohistochemistry and by western blotting (N = 12). Correlative analysis of EpCAM overexpression with microvessel density (MVD), Ki-67 expression, age, and gender were made. Survival data was analyzed with Kaplan–Meier method and Cox Proportional Hazard Model. Immunohistochemistry results showed EpCAM was widely expressed in glioma (90.8 %). The overexpression rate of WHO grade IV gliomas was significantly higher EpCAM overexpression correlated significantly with Ki-67 expression and MVD. Western blot analysis also revealed a stepwise increase in EpCAM expression from WHO II to IV glioma. The overall survival of WHO III and IV glioma patients with EpCAM overexpression was obviously lower than that without EpCAM overexpression. EpCAM overexpression was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival in glioma patients. This study firstly shows that EpCAM overexpression correlates significantly with malignancy (WHO grades), proliferation (Ki67), angiogenesis (MVD), and prognosis in gliomas. EpCAM may participate in tumorgenesis of gliomas.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 81171062). The authors thank the patients who contributed to this research.

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

All the experiments in this article comply with the current laws of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, 250021, People’s Republic of China

    Xin Chen, Shang-Chen Xu, Tao Xin, Hai-Tao Fan, Rui Zhang & Qi Pang

  2. Shandong University School of Medicine, Jinan, 250012, People’s Republic of China

    Xin Chen, Wei-Yuan Ma, Yu Liang, Bo Pang, Rui Zhang, Jian-Gang Luo & Wen-Qing Kang

  3. Department of Gynaecology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, 250021, People’s Republic of China

    Yi-Bing Fu

  4. Department of Neurology, Yantai Mountain Hospital, Yantai, 264001, People’s Republic of China

    Min Wang

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  1. Xin Chen
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  2. Wei-Yuan Ma
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Correspondence to Min Wang or Qi Pang.

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Chen, X., Ma, WY., Xu, SC. et al. The overexpression of Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) in glioma. J Neurooncol 119, 39–47 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-014-1459-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-014-1459-5

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