SPARC and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes: After adjusting for age, tumor stage, tumor size, lymphovascular invasion, vascular invasion and lymph node metastasis, multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that increased SPARC mRNA expression remained an independent prognostic factor for poor DSS (HR=6,65; 95% CI [2,208-20,100], p=0,0007) and poor PFS (HR=1,88; 95% CI [1,144-3,120], p=0,001) in CRC patients (Table 3).