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Current View on EpCAM Structural Biology

EpCAM, a carcinoma cell-surface marker protein and a therapeutic target, has been primarily addressed as a cell adhesion molecule. With regard to recent discoveries of its role in signaling with implications in cell proliferation and differentiation, and findings contradicting a direct role in media...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Gaber, Aljaž, Lenarčič, Brigita, Pavšič, Miha
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7349879/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32486423
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells9061361
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author Gaber, Aljaž
Lenarčič, Brigita
Pavšič, Miha
author_facet Gaber, Aljaž
Lenarčič, Brigita
Pavšič, Miha
author_sort Gaber, Aljaž
collection PubMed
description EpCAM, a carcinoma cell-surface marker protein and a therapeutic target, has been primarily addressed as a cell adhesion molecule. With regard to recent discoveries of its role in signaling with implications in cell proliferation and differentiation, and findings contradicting a direct role in mediating adhesion contacts, we provide a comprehensive and updated overview on the available structural data on EpCAM and interpret it in the light of recent reports on its function. First, we describe the structure of extracellular part of EpCAM, both as a subunit and part of a cis-dimer which, according to several experimental observations, represents a biologically relevant oligomeric state. Next, we provide a thorough evaluation of reports on EpCAM as a homophilic cell adhesion molecule with a structure-based explanation why direct EpCAM participation in cell–cell contacts is highly unlikely. Finally, we review the signaling aspect of EpCAM with focus on accessibility of signaling-associated cleavage sites.
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spelling pubmed-73498792020-07-15 Current View on EpCAM Structural Biology Gaber, Aljaž Lenarčič, Brigita Pavšič, Miha Cells Review EpCAM, a carcinoma cell-surface marker protein and a therapeutic target, has been primarily addressed as a cell adhesion molecule. With regard to recent discoveries of its role in signaling with implications in cell proliferation and differentiation, and findings contradicting a direct role in mediating adhesion contacts, we provide a comprehensive and updated overview on the available structural data on EpCAM and interpret it in the light of recent reports on its function. First, we describe the structure of extracellular part of EpCAM, both as a subunit and part of a cis-dimer which, according to several experimental observations, represents a biologically relevant oligomeric state. Next, we provide a thorough evaluation of reports on EpCAM as a homophilic cell adhesion molecule with a structure-based explanation why direct EpCAM participation in cell–cell contacts is highly unlikely. Finally, we review the signaling aspect of EpCAM with focus on accessibility of signaling-associated cleavage sites. MDPI 2020-05-31 /pmc/articles/PMC7349879/ /pubmed/32486423 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells9061361 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Gaber, Aljaž
Lenarčič, Brigita
Pavšič, Miha
Current View on EpCAM Structural Biology
title Current View on EpCAM Structural Biology
title_full Current View on EpCAM Structural Biology
title_fullStr Current View on EpCAM Structural Biology
title_full_unstemmed Current View on EpCAM Structural Biology
title_short Current View on EpCAM Structural Biology
title_sort current view on epcam structural biology
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7349879/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32486423
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells9061361
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