EPCAM and neoplasm: Specifically, low EpCAM expression assessed using EpAb3-5 identified early-stage patients with better OS (p < 0.05), whereas no significant survival differences were observed in advanced-stage disease.<h4>Conclusions</h4>EpAb3-5 enhances CTC detection compared with a conventional EpCAM-based method and provides complementary prognostic information when interpreted alongside tumor staging.