SPARC expression was inversely associated with the degree of malignancy and it had a negative correlation with VEGF-C expression, VEGF-D expression, LVD and MVD which were actually higher for advanced tumors than for non-advanced tumors.
Our results indicate that proteolytic processing is necessary for VEGF-D to promote the growth and spread of cancer, and suggest that enzymes catalyzing this processing could be targets for antimetastatic therapeutics.
We have also demonstrated that the activating protein-1 (AP-1) family of transcription factors play a potentially critical role in the progression of gliomas by eliciting uncontrolled upregulation of VEGF-D and other compounds essential for cancer cell proliferation, tumorigenesis, and infiltration.