Univariate analysis of the risk factors for 253 lymph node metastasis showed that CEA, tumour max diameter, presence of vessel carcinoma embolus, number of harvested lymph nodes and MSH6- and MLH1-expression levels were associated with 253 lymph-node metastasis (Table 4). This evidence concerns the gene MLH1 and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.