In different cancers, Versican deposits have been demonstrated both in tumor stroma19, 20 and in tumor cells.12 Analyses of mRNA have also demonstrated that tumor-associated Versican is synthesized both in the peritumoral stroma and in the tumor itself.21 Our study suggested that Versican expression was only detected in the tumor stroma surrounding epithelial lesions in gastric adenocarcinoma without any supplementary intracellular Versican accumulation, thereby suggesting that in GC, Versican is likely predominantly synthesized in the tumor stroma by stromal fibroblasts. Here, VCAN is linked to gastric adenocarcinoma.