Table 1. The baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of subjects.
| Characteristics | Healthy controls | Non-tumor subjects | Early CRC | Advanced CRC | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| blood (n = 22) | tissues (n = 12) | blood (n = 21) | tissues (n = 14) | blood (n = 25) | tissues (n = 16) | |
| Age (year) | 58(44–69) | 57 (46–72) | 62 (46–70) | 59 (46–71) | 61 (43–70) | 61 (45–70) |
| Sex (Male/female) | 13/9 | 7/5 | 14/7 | 8/6 | 15/10 | 10/6 |
| Tumor location (Colon/Rectum) | N/A | N/A | 6/15 | 6/8 | 8/17 | 5/11 |
| TNM stage (I/II and III/IV) | N/A | N/A | 6/15 (I/II) | 3/11 (I/II) | 16/9 (III/IV) | 12/4 (III/IV) |
| Differentiation (good/moderate/poor) | N/A | N/A | 6/8/7 | 3/8/3 | 4/15/6 | 4/9/3 |
| Plasma CEA (ng/ml) | 0.52 (0–1.38) | 0.23 (0.13–4.21) | 3.75 (0.14–33.8) | 4.63(0.26–34.2) | 24.53(3.75–68.32)* | 22.17(2.7–84.3)* |
| WBC (×10 9 /L) | 6.43 (4.53–8.27) | 6.24 (4.62–9.13) | 6.73 (4.21–8.81) | 7.23(5.33–9.57) | 7.33 (3.73–7.38) | 7.35 (4.53–9.31) |
| Monocytes (×10 9 /L) | 0.37(0.13–0.51) | 0.47 (0.13–0.58) | 0.42 (0.23–0.57) | 0.53 (0.18–0.62) | 0.45 (0.18–0.54) | 0.52 (0.16–0.59) |
The normal range of CEA: 0–5 ng/ml; white blood cells (WBC): 4–10 ×109/L; monocytes: 0.1–0.6 ×109/L. Quantitative variables were reported as median (range). N/A means not applicable.
*p<0.05 vs. the controls or early patients