MAL2 and carcinoma: To validate whether MAL2 and TPD2 are involved in CRC carcinogenesis, we examined expression of the two proteins in the paired tumors, lymph nodes, liver metastasis and adjacent non-cancerous mucosa tissues from CRC patients (n = 123) by immunohistochemical staining.As shown in Table 1, both MAL2 (n = 123, P<0.001) and TPD2 (n = 123, P<0.001) expressions were significantly increased in CRC primary carcinoma tissues compared with that in adjacent non-cancerous mucosa (Fig 1A and 1B).