Table 1.

Samples used in the study

Sample types	Patients groups				Methods
	Normal	Tubular adenoma	Tubulovillous adenoma	Adeno-carcinoma
FF tissue biopsy	n = 20	n = 11	n = 9	n = 20	Microarray
Matched plasma	n = 4	n = 4	n = 4	n = 4	Microarray
FF tissue biopsy (pooled)	Pooled tissue samples				Real-time PCR
	n1 = 1–10 n2 = 11–20	n1 = 1–11	n1 = 1–9	n1 = 1–10 n2 = 11–20
Matched plasma	n = 3	n = 3	n = 3	n = 3	Real-time PCR
FFPET surgical tissue	n = 3	n = 3		n = 3	Real-time PCR

FF fresh frozen, FFPET formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue