The percentage of circulating MDSCs in patients with operable tumours was comparable to that of patients with inoperable disease, and this was applicable to both Lin-HLA-DR-CD33+CD11b+CD15+ subset (8.5% versus 8.95%, P = 0.45) and monocytic Lin-HLA-DR-CD14+ (1.32% versus 0.63%, P = 0.105). The gene discussed is CD33; the disease is neoplasm.