Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Aug 6, 2021; 9(22): 6287-6299
Published online Aug 6, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i22.6287
Diagnostic and prognostic value of secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine in the diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
Peng-Ji Pan, Jun-Xia Liu
Peng-Ji Pan, Department of Hematology, Yongchuan Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 402160, China
Jun-Xia Liu, Department of Oncology, Yongchuan Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 402160, China
Author contributions: Pan PJ conducted the experimental analysis and wrote the manuscript; Liu JX performed the statistical analysis and revised the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Yongchuan Hospital of Chongqing Medical University.
Informed consent statement: Patients were not required to give informed consent to this study because the analysis used anonymous data from a database.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have no conflict of interests to declare.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jun-Xia Liu, MD, Chief Doctor, Department of Oncology, Yongchuan Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, No. 439 Xuanhua Road, Yongchuan District, Chongqing 402160, China. bepooo@aliyun.com
Received: April 25, 2021
Peer-review started: April 25, 2021
First decision: May 24, 2021
Revised: May 29, 2021
Accepted: June 3, 2021
Article in press: June 3, 2021
Published online: August 6, 2021
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) is an extracellular matrix-associated protein. Studies have revealed that SPARC is involved in the cell interaction and function including proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. However, the role of SPARC in cancer is controversial, as it was reported as the promoter or suppressor in different cancers. Further, the role of SPARC in lymphoma is unclear.

AIM

To identify the expression and significance of SPARC in lymphoma, especially in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

METHODS

The expression analysis of SPARC in different cancers was evaluated with Oncomine. The Brune, Eckerle, Piccaluga, Basso, Compagno, Alizadeh, and Rosenwald datasets were included to evaluate the mRNA expression of SPARC in lymphoma. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)-DLBCL was used to analyze the diagnostic value of SPARC in DLBCL. The Compagno and Brune DLBCL datasets were used for validation. Then, the diagnostic value was evaluated with the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The Kaplan-Meier plot was conducted with TCGA-DLBCL, and the ROC analysis was performed based on the survival time. Further, the overall survival analysis based on the level of SPARC expression was performed with the GSE4475 and E-TABM-346. The Gene Set Enrichment Analyses (GSEA) was performed to make the underlying mechanism-regulatory networks.

RESULTS

The pan-cancer analysis of SPARC showed that SPARC was highly expressed in the brain and central nervous system, breast, colon, esophagus, stomach, head and neck, pancreas, and sarcoma, especially in lymphoma. The overexpression of SPARC in lymphoma, especially DLBCL, was confirmed in several datasets. The ROC analysis revealed that SPARC was a valuable diagnostic biomarker. More importantly, compared with DLBCL patients with low SPARC expression, those with higher SPARC expression represented a higher overall survival rate. The ROC analysis showed that SPARC was a favorable prognostic biomarker for DLBCL. Results of the GSEA confirmed that the high expression of SPARC was closely associated with focal adhesion, extracellular matrix receptor interaction, and leukocyte transendothelial migration, which suggested that SPARC may be involved in the regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition, KRAS, and myogenesis in DLBCL.

CONCLUSION

SPARC was highly expressed in DLBCL, and the overexpression of SPARC showed sound diagnostic value. More interestingly, the overexpression of SPARC might be a favorable prognostic biomarker for DLBCL, suggesting that SPARC might be an inducible factor in the development of DLBCL, and inducible SPARC was negative in some oncogenic pathways. All the evidence suggested that inducible SPARC might be a good diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for DLBCL.

Keywords: Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine, Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, Inducible expression, Diagnosis, Prognosis, Clinical application

Core Tip: In this study, the expression and significance of secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) in the diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) were evaluated. The overexpression of SPARC can be an efficient diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for DLBCL, suggesting that SPARC has a potential value in future clinical application.