Our results demonstrate the successful isolation of intact and label-free exosomes, indicate that the amount of both total and EpCAM+ exosomes increases with HGSOC disease progression, and demonstrate the downstream internalization of isolated exosomes by OVCAR8 cells.
We screened the EpCAM-coding gene TACSTD1 for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which could alter ovarian cancer risk, impact upon disease progression, or alter binding of the therapeutic EpCAM-binding antibody, catumaxomab.
The Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule (EpCAM) is overexpressed in many cancers including ovarian cancer and EpCAM overexpression correlates with decreased survival of patients.
These results demonstrate high Ep-CAM overexpression in ovarian carcinoma, especially in metastatic and recurrent/chemotherapy-resistant ovarian disease.
While EpCAM-positive exosomes were detectable in both patients with benign ovarian disease and ovarian cancer, exosomal microRNA from ovarian cancer patients exhibited similar profiles, which were significantly distinct from profiles observed in benign disease.
Furthermore, we provide evidence that the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), known to be overexpressed in ovarian carcinomas, is secreted in exosomes.