Table 1.

Correlation of CXC chemokine ligand 12 (CXCL12), CXC chemokine type 4 (CXCR4), and fibroblast activation protein-α (FAPα) expression with clinicopathological factors in 121 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer.

Variable	No.	CXCL12			CXCR4			FAPα
		(-)	(+)	p *	(-)	(+)	p *	(-)	(+)	p *
Gender		N = 80	N = 41	0.926	N = 92	N = 29	0.023	N = 68	N = 53	0.816
Male	79	52	27		55	24		45	34
Female	42	28	14		37	5		23	19
Age (years)				0.001			0.103			0.005
≤65	74	57	17		60	14		49	25
>65	47	23	24		32	15		19	28
nCRT				<0.001			<0.001			<0.001
No	60	57	3		60	0		45	15
Yes	61	23	38		32	29		23	38
(y)pT				0.663			0.277			0.213
2	44	28	16		31	13		28	16
3	77	52	25		61	16		40	37
(y)pN				0.011			0.386			0.067
0	75	56	19		59	16		47	28
1-2	46	24	22		33	13		21	25
(y)pTNM Stage				0.005			0.232			0.042
II	74	56	18		59	15		47	27
III	47	24	23		33	14		21	26

* Pearson's chi-square test; nCRT, neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy; (y)pTNM stage, (neoadjuvant)pathologic stage in American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) cancer staging system (8^th edition).