Ueda et al. examined the expression of HMGB1 in cancer tissues and normal paracancerous tissues of 140 patients with CRC using qPCR and found that the expression of HMGB1 in tumour tissues was significantly higher than that in normal tissues, and the high expression of HMGB1 was closely associated with a larger tumour volume, higher lymph node metastasis rate and lower survival rate [32]. This evidence concerns the gene HMGB1 and cancer.