For all patients included, that is, both colon and rectal cancer (stages II and III), Kaplan–Meier analyses showed significantly better RFS for tumour localisation in colon vs rectum (5-year RFS 71 vs 55%, P=0.003), for tumour grade (5-year RFS 67% for high or moderate grade vs 55% for poorly differentiated, P=0.022), for stage (5-year RFS 82% for stage II vs 42% for stage III, P<0.001), for EZH2 expression (5-year RFS 79% for index 4–9 vs 63% for index 0–3, P=0.038), and for Ki-67 expression (5-year RFS 73% for ⩾40% vs 59% for <40%, P=0.003). The gene discussed is EZH2; the disease is neoplasm.