SPARC: a potential target for functional nanomaterials and drugs

Shan Jiang; Hui-Feng Sun; Shuang Li; Ning Zhang; Ji-Song Chen; Jian-Xin Liu

doi:10.3389/fmolb.2023.1235428

SPARC: a potential target for functional nanomaterials and drugs

Front Mol Biosci. 2023 Jul 28:10:1235428. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2023.1235428. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Shan Jiang^{1

2}, Hui-Feng Sun¹, Shuang Li^{2

3}, Ning Zhang^{1

2}, Ji-Song Chen², Jian-Xin Liu^{2

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ School of Pharmacy, Heilongjiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China.
² School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Rehabilitation and Healthcare, Hunan University of Medicine, Huaihua, China.
³ College Pharmacy, Jiamusi University, Jiamusi, China.
⁴ School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of South China, Hengyang, China.
⁵ Institute of Innovation and Applied Research in Chinese Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, China.

Abstract

Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC), also termed osteonectin or BM-40, is a matricellular protein which regulates cell adhesion, extracellular matrix production, growth factor activity, and cell cycle. Although SPARC does not perform a structural function, it, however, modulates interactions between cells and the surrounding extracellular matrix due to its anti-proliferative and anti-adhesion properties. The overexpression of SPARC at sites, including injury, regeneration, obesity, cancer, and inflammation, reveals its application as a prospective target and therapeutic indicator in the treatment and assessment of disease. This article comprehensively summarizes the mechanism of SPARC overexpression in inflammation and tumors as well as the latest research progress of functional nanomaterials in the therapy of rheumatoid arthritis and tumors by manipulating SPARC as a new target. This article provides ideas for using functional nanomaterials to treat inflammatory diseases through the SPARC target. The purpose of this article is to provide a reference for ongoing disease research based on SPARC-targeted therapy.

Keywords: SPARC; functional nanomaterials; rheumatoid arthritis; target; tumors.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (project nos. 82274178 and 81803811), the 2020 Hunan Province Science and Technology Innovation Key Projects (project no. 2020SK1020), the open project of the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine (Macau University of Science and Technology, MUST-SKL-2021-012) funded by the Macao Science and Technology Development Fund, Macau Special Administrative Region, the Wuxi Young Talent Program of Huaihua City, and the Hunan University of Medicine high-level talent introduction startup funds.