Table 1. Clinical characteristics of 202 rectal cancer patients.

103 patients with available biopsies
Gender:	male: 63 (61.2%) female: 40 (38.8%)
Age:	<63: 53 (51.5%) >63: 50 (48.5%)
Primary tumour:	T2: 16 (15.5%) T3: 80 (77.7%) T4: 7 (6.8%)
Regional lymph nodes:	N0: 32 (31.1%) N1: 71 (68.9%)
Distant metastasis:	M0: 87 (84.5%) M1: 16 (15.5%)
UICC disease stage:	UICC stage I: 6 (5.8%) II: 25 (24.3%) III: 56 (54.4%) IV: 16 (15.5%)
Grading:	grade 1: 4 (3.9%) grade 2: 83 (80.6%) grade 3: 16 (15.5%)
Chemotherapeutic treatment:	none: 5 (4.9%) 5-FU: 40 (38.8%) 5-Fu+Oxaliplatin: 46 (44.7%) others: 12 (11.7%)

153 patients with available tumour resections
Gender:	male: 118 (77.1%) female: 35 (22.9%)
Age:	<63: 71 (46.4%) >63: 82 (53.6%)
Primary tumour:	T2: 22 (14.4%) T3: 112 (73.2%) T4: 19 (12.4%)
Regional lymph nodes:	N0: 53 (34.6%) N1: 100 (65.4%)
Distant metastasis:	M0: 129 (84.3%) M1: 24 (15.7%)
UICC disease stage:	UICC stage I: 9 (5.9%) II: 38 (24.8%) III: 82 (53.6%) IV: 24 (15.7%)
Grading:	grade 1: 2 (1.3%) grade 2: 121 (79.1%) grade 3: 30 (19.6%)
Chemotherapeutic treatment:	none: 3 (2%) 5-FU: 48 (31.4%) 5-Fu+Oxaliplatin: 88 (57.5%) others: 14 (9.2%)