Figure 1. Schematic representation of the stepwise selection and evaluation of genes with distance-related expression patterns.

Cancer tissues and corresponding adjacent histologically normal tissues were obtained from 32 rectal cancer patients who underwent surgery. The samples obtained from each patient included primary rectal cancer tissue (T) and adjacent histologically normal tissues taken 1 cm from the tumor (N1), 5 cm from the tumor (N5) and as far as possible from the tumor (proximal end of the resected sample, NP).