EpCAM CAR-T for Treatment of Advanced Solid Tumors

Summary

This study is for patients that have nasopharyngeal carcinoma, breast cancer, gastric cancer and other solid tumors. As epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is a well characterized molecule that is closely with poor prognosis and tumor metastasis and invasion. Many therapies targeting EpCAM have shown benefits for cancer patients. This study is to determine the safety of the engineered T cells armed with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) recognizing EpCAM. At the same time, efficacy is to be evaluated by the criteria of RECIST. The EpCAM CAR-T were produced by lentiviral transduction of the novel 2nd generation of CAR genes. Different cohorts of patients receive EpCAM CAR-T with a dose-escalating manner. This study is to find the largest dose of EpCAM CAR-T, to learn what the adverse effects are and to find out whether this experimental intervention might help patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, breast cancer and other EpCAM positive solid tumors.

Timeline

Start

2016-07

Primary completion

2025-07

Completion

2025-07

Publications

• Background Osta WA, Chen Y, Mikhitarian K, Mitas M, Salem M, Hannun YA, Cole DJ, Gillanders WE. EpCAM is overexpressed in breast cancer and is a potential target for breast cancer gene therapy. Cancer Res. 2004 Aug 15;64(16):5818-24. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-04-0754.
• Background Burges A, Wimberger P, Kumper C, Gorbounova V, Sommer H, Schmalfeldt B, Pfisterer J, Lichinitser M, Makhson A, Moiseyenko V, Lahr A, Schulze E, Jager M, Strohlein MA, Heiss MM, Gottwald T, Lindhofer H, Kimmig R. Effective relief of malignant ascites in patients with advanced ovarian cancer by a trifunctional anti-EpCAM x anti-CD3 antibody: a phase I/II study. Clin Cancer Res. 2007 Jul 1;13(13):3899-905. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-06-2769.
• Background Stoecklein NH, Siegmund A, Scheunemann P, Luebke AM, Erbersdobler A, Verde PE, Eisenberger CF, Peiper M, Rehders A, Esch JS, Knoefel WT, Hosch SB. Ep-CAM expression in squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus: a potential therapeutic target and prognostic marker. BMC Cancer. 2006 Jun 23;6:165. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-6-165.
• Background Spizzo G, Went P, Dirnhofer S, Obrist P, Moch H, Baeuerle PA, Mueller-Holzner E, Marth C, Gastl G, Zeimet AG. Overexpression of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (Ep-CAM) is an independent prognostic marker for reduced survival of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer. Gynecol Oncol. 2006 Nov;103(2):483-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2006.03.035. Epub 2006 May 6.
• Background Murakami N, Mori T, Yoshimoto S, Ito Y, Kobayashi K, Ken H, Kitaguchi M, Sekii S, Takahashi K, Yoshio K, Inaba K, Morota M, Sumi M, Itami J. Expression of EpCAM and prognosis in early-stage glottic cancer treated by radiotherapy. Laryngoscope. 2014 Nov;124(11):E431-6. doi: 10.1002/lary.24839. Epub 2014 Jul 14.
• Background Deng Z, Wu Y, Ma W, Zhang S, Zhang YQ. Adoptive T-cell therapy of prostate cancer targeting the cancer stem cell antigen EpCAM. BMC Immunol. 2015 Jan 31;16(1):1. doi: 10.1186/s12865-014-0064-x.
• Sarkar T, Sarkar T, Goswami M, Robaszkiewicz A, Sarkar K. Integrated transcriptome analysis and in silico investigations identify KHDRBS3 to target with steroidal lactone in paclitaxel resistance breast cancer. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2025 Sep 1;777:152332. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2025.152332. Epub 2025 Jul 10.

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