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An adhesion protein on almost all carcinoma cells and the capture molecule for circulating tumour cell tests; the target of the first bispecific antibody ever approved (catumaxomab, 2009).
EpCAM (CD326) is expressed on most carcinomas (colorectal, gastric, pancreatic, breast, ovarian, lung) and on circulating tumour cells (CellSearch). Catumaxomab (EpCAM×CD3 trifunctional) was approved in the EU in 2009 for malignant ascites, withdrawn commercially in 2017 and re-approved in 2025; edrecolomab (adjuvant colon) failed in the 1990s; oportuzumab monatox (intravesical, BCG-unresponsive NMIBC) received an FDA CRL in 2021. Solitomab (BiTE) was too toxic because of normal epithelial expression. EpCAM CAR-T and ADCs are being tested in gastric and colorectal cancer, and germline EPCAM deletions cause Lynch syndrome via MSH2 silencing.
In plain words · An adhesion protein on almost all carcinoma cells and the capture molecule for circulating tumour cell tests; the target of the first bispecific antibody ever approved (catumaxomab, 2009).
An adhesion protein on almost all carcinoma cells and the capture molecule for circulating tumour cell tests; the target of the first bispecific antibody ever approved (catumaxomab, 2009).
Type I transmembrane glycoprotein mediating Ca-independent homotypic cell adhesion; regulated intramembrane proteolysis releases EpICD, which co-activates Wnt/β-catenin target genes (c-MYC, cyclin D1).
2 products aim at EpCAM: bispecific antibodies. Because it sits on the outside of the cell, it can be reached from the bloodstream: antibodies flag the cell, ADCs deliver a toxin, radioligands deliver radiation, and CAR-T or bispecifics bring a T cell.
Tumour-associated overexpression: 2 cell-killing or cell-finding medicines (Catumaxomab, M701) aim at the antigen, which HPA finds stained high in 12 normal tissues; the medicine relies on the tumour carrying more of it than the normal tissue it shares it with. HPA EPCAM: RNA tissue enhanced (intestine 756 nTPM); high antibody staining in 12 normal tissues; highest cancer staining colorectal cancer (12 of 12 high). Distribution: 5 cancer families in the corpus carry a prevalence row, label threshold or catalogue link for it (Colorectal cancer, Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Ovarian cancer, Bladder & urothelial cancer); Open Targets associates it with 3 specific cancer types at or above 0.5 (Lynch syndrome 8, gastric cancer, Lynch syndrome). (Rule 5 of scripts/fetch-target-specificity.ts.)
Sources: Human Protein Atlas EPCAM tissue; Human Protein Atlas EPCAM pathology; Open Targets ENSG00000119888 associations
First described 1989. Earliest sequence paper UniProt cites for the protein: Strnad et al, Cancer Res, 1989, "Molecular cloning and characterization of a human adenocarcinoma/epithelial cell surface antigen complementary DNA". Source.
Type I transmembrane glycoprotein mediating Ca-independent homotypic cell adhesion; regulated intramembrane proteolysis releases EpICD, which co-activates Wnt/β-catenin target genes (c-MYC, cyclin D1).
RNA: tissue enhanced (intestine 756 nTPM), detected in many normal tissues.
Medium: Endometrium, Testis, Thyroid gland.
Medium only: stomach cancer, testis cancer, urothelial cancer.
HPA EPCAM tissue · HPA EPCAM pathology · HPA protein class: CD markers, FDA approved drug targets
Human Protein Atlas version 25.1, antibody staining at reliability approved, enhanced or supported; used under CC BY-SA 3.0. Staining counts are patients per level in the atlas cohort, not population prevalence.
| Cancer | Prevalence | Measure | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorectal cancer | 97.7% | IHC, high-level EpCAM expression (TMA, n=1186) | Only 0.4% EpCAM-negative; 92.1% in grade 3 tumours | doi.org |
| Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer | 90.7% | IHC, high-level EpCAM expression (TMA, n=473) | 2.5% EpCAM-negative | doi.org |
| Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma | 78% | IHC, strong EpCAM expression in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (multi-tumour TMA, 3900 samples) | doi.org |
Approximate, population-level figures; the measure column says what was counted. Ranges show the midpoint as a bar.
Catumaxomab (Korjuny) is an antibody infused into the abdominal cavity to control malignant ascites, the build-up of fluid caused by cancers such as ovarian and stomach cancer, in people whose other treatments have stopped working.
M701 is Wuhan YZY Biopharma's EpCAM-CD3 bispecific antibody infused into the abdomen to control malignant ascites, in a phase 3 trial in China.
Query for this target: (TITLE:"EpCAM" OR ABSTRACT:"EpCAM" OR TITLE:"EPCAM" OR ABSTRACT:"EPCAM") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about EpCAM, not a curated reading list.
Shares Intravasation & circulating tumour cells, Bladder & urothelial cancer, Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer, Ovarian cancer.
Shares M701, Bispecific antibodies.
Shares Mismatch repair & microsatellite instability, Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Colorectal cancer.
Shares Heritable somatic methylation and inactivation of MSH2 in families with Lynch syndrome due to deletion of the 3' exons of TACSTD1, Mismatch repair & microsatellite instability, Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer, Ovarian cancer.
Shares Catumaxomab, Ovarian cancer.
Shares Catumaxomab, Ovarian cancer.
Shares Catumaxomab, Ovarian cancer.
Shares M701, Bispecific antibodies.