Table 2.

Association between IL-38 production and clinicopathological characteristics in patients with CRC

Characteristics	IL-38 (units × 105)		P value	IL-38 ratio (cancer vs. non-cancer × 102)		P value
	N	Median		N	Median
Cancer vs non-cancer (paired)
Cancer	157	0.0533	< 0.0001
Non-cancer	157	1.3360
Cancer vs non-cancer (unpaired)
Cancer	198	0.0572	< 0.0001
Non-cancer	157	1.3360
Gender
Male	125	0.0555	NS	98	6.0845	NS
Female	73	0.0652		59	4.9309
Age (years)
< 70	104	0.0547	NS	80	5.0523	NS
≥ 70	94	0.0650		77	6.1020
Position
Right-sided	60	0.0362	0.05	49	4.7711	NS
Left-sided	135	0.0800		107	6.0233
Size (diameter, cm)
≤ 5	152	0.0676	NS	126	6.4133	0.03
> 5	45	0.0299		30	2.4473
Lymph node metastasis
No	119	0.0844	NS	93	7.0598	NS
Yes	79	0.0380		64	4.5315
Differentiation
Well	5	0.1103	NS	4	9.0806	All:0.02 H/M: NS H/L: NS M/L:0.02
Moderate	153	0.0787		122	7.4385
Poor	37	0.0284		29	2.8655
Invasion depth
T1	9	0.0427	NS	9	4.3749	NS
T2	25	0.1731		17	11.7530
T3	34	0.0332		28	2.9147
T4	128	0.0548		103	6.1020
TNM
I	30	0.1670	NS	22	14.9808	NS
II	86	0.0767		71	5.6415
III	69	0.0442		55	4.7249
IV	11	0.0324		9	3.1851

P values for Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Mann–Whitney U test. IL-38 ratio: divide the expression of IL-38 in tumours by the paired adjacent tissues