We observed that the individual expression levels of IL-6, TNF-α and IL-12p70 in the patients with colorectal cancer are related to lymph node metastasis, TNM staging, and degree of differentiation (P<0.05); however, they are irrelevant to the age, sex, and tumor location of patients with colorectal cancer (P>0.05). The gene discussed is TNF; the disease is metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.