We used a syngeneic model of OvCa in <i>Sparc</i>-deficient and proficient mice to gain comprehensive insight into the paracrine effect of stromal-SPARC in metabolic programming of OvCa in the peritoneal milieu.
These findings define a novel and functionally important role of SPARC in OvCa and not only bridge the knowledge gap but highlight the need to consider SPARC protein expression in therapeutic development.
These results suggest SPARC might function as a tumor suppressor inhibiting angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis in ovarian cancer by reducing the expression of VEGF-C and VEGF-D.
SPARC mRNA and protein expression was examined in 24 human invasive ovarian cancers, 5 tumors of low malignant potential (LMP), and 8 nonmalignant ovaries by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry.