For example, mutations or loss of expression of tumour-suppressor proteins expressed by tumour epithelial cells such as Smad4 (Tascilar et al, 2001; Biankin et al, 2002; Blackford et al, 2009; Iacobuzio-Donahue et al, 2009), or patterns of stromal fibroblast-expressed proteins such as Sparc have been shown to predict outcome (Sato et al, 2003; Infante et al, 2007). Here, SMAD4 is linked to neoplasm.