Bioinformatic analysis of chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 21 and SPARC-like protein 1 revealing their associations with drug resistance in ovarian cancer.

Chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 21 (CCL21) and SPARC-like protein 1 (SPARCL1/MAST9/hevin/SC-1) are associated with various biological behavior in the development of cancers. Although the expression of CCL21 and SPARCL1 is downregulated in many solid tumors, their roles in ovarian cancer and their associations with drug resistance have rarely been studied. We performed a comprehensive bioinformatic analysis consisting of motif analysis, literature co-occurrence, gene/protein-gene/protein interaction network, protein-small molecule interaction network, and microRNAs enrichments which revealed that CCL21 and SPARCL1 directly or indirectly interact with a number of genes, proteins, small molecules and pathways associated with drug resistance in ovarian and other cancers. These results suggested that CCL21 and SPARCL1 may contribute to drug resistance in ovarian cancer. This study provided important information for further investigation of drug resistance-related functions of CCL21 and SPARCL1 in ovarian cancer.