SPARC and neoplasm: However, MMP-9 expression in Daoy-SP2 cells reversed the SPARC-mediated inhibition of anti-angiogenic effect and tumour growth by only about 50% compared with that of tumour cell-induced angiogenesis and tumour growth in vivo induced by Daoy-SP2 cells, although western blot analysis for MMP-9 indicated that transfection with plasmid expressing MMP-9 cDNA in Daoy-SP2 cells restored the expression of MMP-9 to that of parental cells (Figure 4A).