Table 1 The expression pattern and clinical significance of EpCAM in cancers

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)

Upregulated

Stemness

Progenitor features with poor prognosis

Wnt/β-catenin signaling

[62]

Downregulated

Chemo-resistance

resistant to cisplatin

Hedgehog signaling

[154]

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC)

Upregulated

EMT and stemness;

Associated with metastasis and shorter survival

PTEN/AKT/mTOR signaling

[15]

Thyroid cancer

Upregulated

–

Shorter OS

Wnt/β-catenin signaling

[155]

Colon cancer

Upregulated

Cell migration, proliferation, tumor growth, hypoxic adaption

Poor prognosis and metastasis

EpEX/EGFR/ERK1/2 and Wnt/β-catenin signaling; Hypoxia-related gene expression

[7, 19]

Breast cancer

Upregulated

Cell stemness, invasion, EMT,

Shorter DFS and OS

Wnt/β-catenin, JNK/AP-1, NF‐κB signaling

[11, 86, 156]

Downregulated

EMT

Invasive phenotype and poor prognosis

EpEX, EGF, and TGFβ1 signaling with ERK

[57]

Leukemia

Upregulated

Chemo-resistant, Immune evasion, stemness

Chemo-resistance and relapse

Wnt5B signaling

[13]

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC)

Upregulated

Cell cycle, proliferation, migration

Poor prognosis and lymph node metastases, association with Barrett’s esophagus and EAC progression

Wnt/β-catenin signaling, CCND1 regulation

[20, 157]

Downregulated

EMT, cell migration, invasion and dissemination

Association with CTCs

–

[20]

HNSCC

Upregulated

Cell cycle progression

Correlation with proliferation marker

Regulation on CCND1 and Rb

[9]

Downregulated

EMT

Poor prognosis

EpEX/EGFR/ERK1/2 signaling

[5]

NSCLC

Upregulated

EMT, metastasis, invasion

Poor prognosis and CTCs

HGF/cMET and αvβ6/TGF-β signaling

[59, 71]

Ovarian cancer

Upregulated

Chemo-resistance, invasion, immune evasion

Chemo-resistance, metastasis, immune evasion

PI3K/AKT signaling, MHC-I overexpression

[65]

Ovarian cancer

Downregulated

Low response rate to chemo-therapy

Poor OS and tumor grade

–

[158]

Pancreatic cancer

Upregulated

Stemness, Chemo-resistance

Recurrence and chemo-resistance

PAK4/STAT3 signaling

[72]

Prostate cancer

Upregulated

EMT, proliferation, chemo/radio-resistance

Lymph node metastases, chemo/radio-resistance

PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling

[66, 82]

Endometrial carcinoma

Downregulated

EMT, cell invasion

Advanced tumor stage and lymph node metastasis, poor survival

Erα/EpCAM signaling axis

[101]

Upregulated

–

Poor prognosis

EGF/EpCAM/BMP signaling

[159]

Gastric cancer

Upregulated

Cell proliferation, migration

Poor OS, lymph node metastasis

Interaction with E-cadherin, β-catenin, PS-2, and ADAM17

[160, 161]

Renal cell carcinoma

Upregulated

Reduced migration, tumor necrosis

Better prognosis and OS and DSS

–

[162]