The association of a high expression of miR-133b in rectal cancer with good distant-metastasis-free survival, as shown in our data, is supported by different studies: Qiu et al. showed that miR-133b (and to other miRNAs) suppressed the proliferation, migration, invasion and cell cycle progression in gastric cancer cells through decreasing expression of the transcription factor specificity protein 1 (Sp1) and its downstream proteins using human gastric cancer cell lines SGC7901, MKN45 and BCG823 [59]. This evidence concerns the gene SP1 and gastric cancer.