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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Dec 15.
Published in final edited form as: Int J Cancer. 2013 Jul 13;133(12):2925–2933. doi: 10.1002/ijc.28312

Figure 1. The EpCAM+ subset is tumorigenic.

Figure 1

(a) Cells from pleural effusion samples were separated into 5 different subsets based on their EpCAM and CD45 expression, and whether obtained from a cancer patient (malignant) or otherwise (benign). The EpCAM+ subset was only present in the malignant effusions whereas the EpCAM−/CD45− and CD45+ subsets were found in both the malignant and benign effusions. (b) Malignant pleural effusions were sorted into the EpCAM+, EpCAM−/CD45− and CD45+ subsets by flow cytometry and injected subcutaneously into NOD/SCID/ IL2γR−/− mice and monitored for tumor formation for up to a year. The table shows the ratio of the number of tumors formed to the total number of clinical samples injected. Only the EpCAM+ subset formed tumors. (c) The pleural effusions and their corresponding xenograft tumors were analyzed for their EpCAM and CD45 expression. The xenograft tumors were pre-gated with HLA-ABC antibody to remove contaminating mouse cells.