Pericytes are cells found around microvessels and are known to promote survival of the tumour through structural stabilization & remodelling of the tumour vasculature. However, previous data from our lab has demonstrated unequivocally that pericytes have the ability to promote the growth of normal epithelial cells quite independent of angiogenesis. Here we show that pericytes have a gene expression profile that significantly overlaps with cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) derived from ovarian cancer patients. More importantly, pericytes can accelerate both primary tumour growth & metastasis in a xenograft model of ovarian cancer without altering tumour vasculature as determined by microvessel density or pericyte coverage index. Notably, interrogation of a gene expression dataset of 215 serous ovarian cancer patients revealed that patients carrying a pericyte-specific gene expression signature bore a statistically significantly (p=0.000195) higher risk of relapse & a lower overall chance of survival, indicating that pericyte involvement is a strong predictor of cancer recurrence & mortality. In silico analysis of the molecular profile of patients with earlier relapse associated with the pericyte signature, showed that ECM remodelling & focal adhesion were the primary pathways overexpressed in that patient subset. This was experimentally validated in histological analyses of the xenografted tumours, where increased tumour invasion accompanied by epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) was observed in the presence of pericytes. Notably, in vitro assays confirmed that co-culture with pericytes stimulated ovarian cancer cell migration, invasion and proliferation. This study is the first concrete clinical & experimental evidence for pericytes being a potential source of “CAFs” in the tumour microenvironment & presents the possibility of pericyte-specific genes being used at the protein level as prognostic markers for ovarian cancer progression & survival.