Osteonectin/SPARC Expression in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Tissue Microarray Study

Conclusions: SPARC expression is frequently present in tumoral stroma of head and neck SCCs. In contravention to prior studies, we found that SPARC expression did not correlate with survival overall. This suggests that previously reported associations may not, in fact, exist highlighting the need to meticulously adjust for confounding variables in novel biomarker studies. However, subgroup analysis showed that stromal SPARC expression is associated with better disease-free survival among patients who are not treated with chemotherapy.
Source: Applied Immunohistochemistry and Molecular Morphology - Category: Chemistry Tags: Research Articles Source Type: research