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Review
. 2023 Jul 11;13(7):1103.
doi: 10.3390/biom13071103.

Omics Overview of the SPARC Gene in Mesothelioma

Licun Wu  1 , Marc de Perrot  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

Omics Overview of the SPARC Gene in Mesothelioma

Licun Wu et al. Biomolecules. .

Abstract

The SPARC gene plays multiple roles in extracellular matrix synthesis and cell shaping, associated with tumor cell migration, invasion, and metastasis. The SPARC gene is also involved in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process, which is a critical phenomenon leading to a more aggressive cancer cell phenotype. SPARC gene overexpression has shown to be associated with poor survival in the mesothelioma (MESO) cohort from the TCGA database, indicating that this gene may be a powerful prognostic factor in MESO. Its overexpression is correlated with the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Here, we summarize the omics advances of the SPARC gene, including the summary of SPARC gene expression associated with prognosis in pancancer and MESO, the immunosuppressive microenvironment, and cancer cell stemness. In addition, SPARC might be targeted by microRNAs. Notably, despite the controversial functions on angiogenesis, SPARC may directly or indirectly contribute to tumor angiogenesis in MESO. In conclusion, SPARC is involved in tumor invasion, metastasis, immunosuppression, cancer cell stemness, and tumor angiogenesis, eventually impacting patient survival. Strategies targeting this gene may provide novel therapeutic approaches to the treatment of MESO.

Keywords: SPARC; epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT); mesothelioma (MESO); omics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
SPARC gene expression and its association with survival in the MESO cohort and pancancer. (A) SPARC gene expression in the pancancer TCGA database; (B,C) survival maps showing that SPARC gene expression is associated with overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in pancancer; (D,E) SPARC gene expression associated with OS and DFS in the MESO cohort; (F,G) SPARC gene expression associated with OS and DFS in pancancer.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Gene expression of the EMT gene SPARC is correlated with immunosuppressive components. (A,B) Infiltration levels of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are positively correlated with SPARC gene expression; (C,D) TGFB1/TGFBR1 gene expression is positively correlated with SPARC gene expression. The graphs were generated based on the TCGA database from www.cbiolportal.org accessed on 1 May 2022 and http://timer.cistrome.org/ accessed on 1 May 2022.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Networks in which the SPARC gene is involved, as determined by GeneMANIA. (A) All networks, including physical interactions, co-expression, predicted, co-localization, genetic interactions, pathways, and shared protein domains, are analyzed based on the published literature. https://genemania.org/search/homo-sapiens/sparc accessed on 1 May 2022; (B) Hallmark gene sets of SPARC-centered networks determined by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Negative correlation of EMT genes and miRNA gene expression in TCGA MESO. (A) The miR-193a (MIR193A) gene expression is negatively correlated with 7/9 EMT genes identified in MESO; (B) the miR-652 (MIR652) gene expression is negatively correlated with 7/9 EMT genes identified in MESO. Five genes may be targeted by both miR-193a and miR-652.
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This research received no external funding.
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