title: Expression of Secreted Protein Acidic and Rich in Cysteine in the Stroma of a Colorectal Carcinoma is Associated With Patient Prognosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC), also known as osteonectin or basement-membrane-40 (BM-40), is a member of a family of matricellular proteins, whose functions are to modulate cell-matrix interactions, growth and angiogenesis in colorectal cancer. In this study, the expression of SPARC was evaluated and its correlations with clinicopathological parameters were investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  The researchers analyzed the expression patterns of SPARC by using immunohistochemistry in 332 cases of colorectal cancer of tissue microarray. The clinicopathological characteristics were defined by using the TNM criteria of the Union for International Cancer Control. Clinicopathological factors such as age, sex, histologic type of the tumor, pathologic tumor stage, TNM stage, and lymphovascular invasion were evaluated according to the SPARC expression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The hazard ratios expressing SPARC in tumor cells, in the stroma, and in both tumor cells and the stroma were 2.10 (P = 0.036), 3.27 (P = 0.003) and 2.12 (P = 0.038), respectively. Patient survival was decreased in patient expressing SPARC in the stroma, and this result showed statistical significance (P = 0.016).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that SPARC expression in a tumor and in the stroma correlates with disease progression and may be used as a prognostic marker for colorectal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong Yeon
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Dongjun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Tae Sung
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: Hyung Ju
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Doo San
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: So Yong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Sang Byung
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Sookyoung
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sung Soo
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Moon Soo
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Hyun Deuk
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Moo Jun
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Baek
keywords: Colorectal neoplasms; Osteonectin; Prognosis; SPARC