In addition, DLEC1 methylation did not correlate with tumor size (P = 0.243), depth of invasion (P = 0.066), lymphatic invasion (P = 0.102), venous invasion (P = 0.074), TNM staging (P = 0.063), Lauren classification (P = 0.050), and lymph node metastasis (P = 0.089). This evidence concerns the gene DLEC1 and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.