Possible reasons for the disparity between our findings could be due to lower numbers of CRC cases in our cohort (20 patients), different methods used to isolate and detect the bft gene from mucosal tissue, and also that our study did not directly test tumour tissue, rather we tested macroscopically normal mucosal tissue from four specific locations in the colon. This evidence concerns the gene PITX1 and colorectal carcinoma.