As shown in Table 1, DACH1 methylation was significantly associated with late tumour stage (stage III/IV; P < 0.01) and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05), but no association was found between DACH1 methylation and age, gender, differentiation, intravascular cancerous emboli or tumour size. This evidence concerns the gene DACH1 and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.