As shown in Table 1, serum CCL18 levels were found to be significantly associated with tumour classification (T1 + T2 vs T3 + T4; P = 0.001), clinical stage (I + II vs III + IV; P = 0.000), lymph node metastasis (N0 vs N+; P = 0.001) and histological grade (Highly differentiated vs other differentiation stages, P = 0.021). The gene discussed is CCL18; the disease is neoplasm.