ArticleInternational journal of cancer2023
SPARC in cancer-associated fibroblasts is an independent poor prognostic factor in non-metastatic triple-negative breast cancer and exhibits pro-tumor activity.
Article in International journal of cancer, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Intratumoral desmoplastic stroma in carcinoma brain metastases harbors stromal cells with a cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF)-like immunophenotype.Virchows Archiv : an international journal of pathology · 2026Article
- circVDJ-seq for T cell clonotype detection in single-cell and spatial multi-omics.Genome medicine · 2026Article
- miR-29a-3p regulates SPARC to inhibit ferroptosis and promote cell proliferation in gastric cancer.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Oncological Safety of High Hydrostatic Pressure Treatment: Effects on Cancer-Associated Fibroblast-like Transdifferentiation of Adipose Stromal Cells.Current issues in molecular biology · 2026Article
- Exploration of the roles of CAFs in melanoma based on single-cell transcriptomics and spatial transcriptomics.Discover oncology · 2025Article
- Review
- Article
- Tumor cell-derived EMP1 is essential for cancer-associated fibroblast infiltration in tumor microenvironment of triple-negative breast cancer.Cell death & disease · 2025Article
- Elevated Serum Extracellular Vesicle-Packaged SPARC in Hypertension: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Middle-Aged and Elderly Population.Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.) · 2025Article
- Matricellular proteins: Potential biomarkers in head and neck cancer.Journal of cell communication and signaling · 2024Review
- Analysis of single nuclear chromatin accessibility reveals unique myeloid populations in human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.Clinical and translational medicine · 2024Article
- Immunohistochemical expression of SPARC in odontogenic keratocysts: a comparative study with other odontogenic cysts.BMC oral health · 2024Article
- Fibroblast heterogeneity and functions: insights from single-cell sequencing in wound healing, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and melanoma.Frontiers in genetics · 2024Review
- Patterns of immune evasion in triple-negative breast cancer and new potential therapeutic targets: a review.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- Article
- ROS impairs tumor vasculature normalization through an endocytosis effect of caveolae on extracellular SPARC.Cancer cell international · 2023Article
- Omics Overview of the SPARC Gene in Mesothelioma.Biomolecules · 2023Review
- SPARC in cancer-associated fibroblasts is an independent poor prognostic factor in non-metastatic triple-negative breast cancer and exhibits pro-tumor activity.International journal of cancer · 2023Article
- Exploration of cancer associated fibroblasts phenotypes in the tumor microenvironment of classical and pleomorphic Invasive Lobular Carcinoma.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Article
- SPARC: a potential target for functional nanomaterials and drugs.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive breast cancer subtype and lacks specific targeted therapeutic agents. The current mechanistic evidence from cell-based studies suggests that the matricellular protein SPARC has a tumor-promoting role in TNBC; however, data on the clinical relevance of SPARC expression/secretion by tumor and stromal cells in TNBC are limited. Here, we analyzed by immunohistochemistry the prognostic value of tumor and stromal cell SPARC expression in 148 patients with non-metastatic TNBC and long follow-up (median: 5.4 years). We also quantified PD-L1 and PD-1 expression. We detected SPARC expression in tumor cells (42.4%), cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs; 88.1%), tumor-associated macrophages (77.1%), endothelial cells (75.2%) and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (9.8%). Recurrence-free survival was significantly lower in patients with SPARC-expressing CAFs. Multivariate analysis showed that SPARC expression in CAFs was an independent prognostic factor. We also detected tumor and stromal cell SPARC expression in TNBC cytosols, and in patient-derived xenografts and cell lines. Furthermore, we analyzed publicly available single-cell mRNA sequencing data and found that in TNBC, SPARC is expressed by different CAF subpopulations, including myofibroblasts and inflammatory fibroblasts that are involved in tumor-related processes. We then showed that fibroblast-secreted SPARC had a tumor-promoting role by inhibiting TNBC cell adhesion and stimulating their motility and invasiveness. Overall, our study demonstrates that SPARC expression in CAFs is an independent prognostic marker of poor outcome in TNBC. Patients with SPARC-expressing CAFs could be eligible for anti-SPARC targeted therapy.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.