HPSE and neoplasm: Since heparanase was significantly associated with worse prognosis in our pooled analysis and in the BIG 2-98 trial in which all patients received adjuvant chemotherapy (including anthracycline, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil ± taxane), we speculated that heparanase would affect cell viability following chemotherapy in addition to its known role in tumor aggressiveness.