The ROC analysis revealed that the discriminative power of serum NGAL between CRC patients and controls was moderate as assessed by an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.65 (95% CI:0.60-0.70) and poor for NGAL/MMP-9 with an AUC of 0.58 (95% CI:0.52-0.63). This evidence concerns the gene MMP9 and colorectal carcinoma.