Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is involved in prostate cancer chemotherapy/radiotherapy response in vivo

BACKGROUND: Development of chemo−/radioresistance is a major challenge for the current prostate cancer (CaP) therapy. We have previously demonstrated that epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is associated with CaP growth and therapeutic resistance in vitro, however, the role of EpCAM in CaP in vivo is not fully elucidated. Here, we aimed to investigate how expression of EpCAM is involved in CaP growth and chemo−/radiotherapy response in NOD/SCID mouse models in vivo and to validate its role as a therapeutic target for CaP therapy. METHODS: EpCAM was knocked down in PC-3 CaP cell line using short hairpin RNA (shRNA). The effect of EpCAM-knockdown (KD) on tumour growth, chemo−/radiotherapy response and animal survival was evaluated on subcutaneous (s.c) and orthotopic mouse models. RESULTS: We found that KD of EpCAM significantly inhibited tumour growth, increased xenograft sensitivity to chemotherapy/radiotherapy, and prolonged the survival of tumour-bearing mice. In addition, we demonstrated that KD of EpCAM is associated with downregulation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, our data confirms that CaP growth and chemo−/radioresistance in vivo is associated with over-expression of EpCAM, which serves both a functional biomarker and promising therapeutic target. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-018-5010-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.