In this study, we examined potential risk factors for 253 lymph node metastasis in colorectal cancer patients, and found increased metastatic risk in patients with high preoperative levels of CEA, large tumour max diameters, the presence of vessel carcinoma or emboli, higher numbers of harvested lymph nodes, and reduced expression of MSH6 and MLH1 as detected by immunohistochemistry. The gene discussed is MLH1; the disease is colorectal cancer.