EpCAM expression in metastases of different tumour origin
| Tumour type (no. of samples) | No EpCAM overexpression* | EpCAM overexpression* | ||||||
| No expression (TIS 0) | Weak expression (TIS 1–4) | Moderate expression (TIS 6, 8) | Intense expression (TIS 9, 12) | |||||
| n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | |
| Liver metastases from colorectal cancer (18) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 83 |
| CNS metastases from breast cancer (15) | 1 | 7 | 5 | 33 | 4 | 27 | 5 | 33 |
| Peritoneal metastases from colon, ovary, pancreatobiliary and gastric cancer (22) | 1 | 4 | 7 | 32 | 10 | 45 | 4 | 19 |
| Lymph node metastases from breast cancer (5) | 2 | 40 | 1 | 20 | 1 | 20 | 1 | 20 |
| Lymph node metastases from colon cancer (48) | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 39 | 81 |
EpCAM expression was determined by immunohistochemistry.
↵* EpCAM overexpression defined by Gastl et al3.
CNS, central nervous system; EpCAM, epithelial cell adhesion molecule; TIS, total immunostaining score.