Objective:Theexpressionoftumorbiomarkersmaychangeafterchemotherapy.However,whethersecretedproteinacidicandrichincysteine(SPARC)expressionchangesafterchemotherapyingastriccancer(GC)isunclear.ThisstudyinvestigatedtheinfluenceofchemotherapyonSPARCexpressioninGC.Methods:ImmunohistochemistrywasusedtoanalyzeSPARCexpressionin132GCcases(including54caseswithpreoperativechemotherapyand78caseswithoutpreoperativechemotherapy).SPARCexpressionofpostoperativespecimenswithandwithoutpreoperativechemotherapywasassessedtoanalyzetheinfluenceofchemotherapyonSPARCexpression.Results:SPARCwashighlyexpressedinGCcomparedwiththedesmoplasticstromasurroundingtumorcellsandnoncanceroustissues.HighSPARCexpressionwascorrelatedwithinvasiondepth,lymphnode,andTNMstage.Afterchemotherapy,alowerproportionofhighSPARCexpressionwasobservedinpatientswithpreoperativechemotherapythaninthecontrols.For54patientswithpreoperativechemotherapy,grosstype,histology,depthofinvasion,lymphnode,TNMstage,andSPARCexpressionwererelatedtooverallsurvival.Furthermultivariateanalysisshowedthatlymphnode,histology,andSPARCexpressionafterchemotherapywereindependentprognosticfactors.Conclusion:SPARCexpressionmaychangeafterchemotherapyinGC.SPARCexpressionshouldbereassessedforpatientswithGCafterchemotherapy.
