Although the rectal cancer patients who inherited XPD Gln allelic variants had significantly reduced OS, this negative effect was not more prominent in any specific TNM stage (stage II/III, HR  = 1.57, 95% CI  = 0.88–2.81; stage IV, HR  = 1.98, 95% CI  = 0.94–4.17). This evidence concerns the gene ERCC2 and rectal cancer.