We aimed to study the expressions of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the SPARC gene and their impact on susceptibility and survival of HCC patients.
Taken together, our results demonstrated that loss of miR-211 expression and thus uncontrolled SPARC overexpression might drive progression of HCC, which may provide a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of HCC.
Aberrant methylation is an important mechanism for SPARC inactivation in HCC and SPARC methylation may be a promising biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of HCC.
Moreover, the clonogenic and migratory capabilities were largely decreased in SPARC-overexpressing HCC cells, altogether suggesting a less aggressive HCC cell phenotype.
Since the presence of the rs2304052 C allele is associated with an increased risk (odds ratio: 2.76) of developing hepatocarcinoma, our results allowed us to identify a SNP in the SPARC gene correlating to HCC susceptibility.