These results are in contrast to some other studies on colon and rectum tumours that can be summarised by the observation that HIF1α and GLUT1 expression in rectal cancer cells is of prognostic significance (Haber et al, 1998; Yoshimura et al, 2004; Lu et al, 2006; Theodoropoulos et al, 2006). Here, SLC2A1 is linked to rectal cancer.