SPARC and cancer: We recently defined CAFs-associated genes (CAFGs) in CRC based on (1) a close association (R = 0.9 or greater, underlined genes throughout this paper, such as FGF7 and TGFBR2) with the expression of SPARC, a well-known stromal marker, in the cancer stroma of CRC tumors (GSE35607), and (2) stromal specificity (stromal/epithelial expression ratio, SE ratio = 10 or greater), similar to SPARC (SE = 17.2) [9].