Levels of CEA, CEACAM1-S/L, CEACAM6, CEACAM7-1/2, MUC2, MMP7 and CK20 mRNAs were assessed in RNA extracted from primary tumours representing all four Dukes' stages and from luminal-iECs and crypt-iECs of apparently normal and inflammatory colon using specific real-time qRT–PCR assays with RNA copy standards. This evidence concerns the gene MMP7 and neoplasm.