BAX and rectal cancer: LARC – locally advanced rectal cancer; nCRT – neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy; CEA – carcinoembryonic antigen; CA 19-9 –carbohydrate antigen 19-9; CA 72-4 – tumour-associated glycoprotein 72; CA 15-3 – cancer antigen 15-3; CRP – C-reactive protein;BAX – BCL2 associated X, apoptosis regulator; BCL2 – BCL2 apoptosis regulator; CER – ceramide; SM – sphingomyelin<br>r – Pearson’s correlation coefficient (normal distribution of data); rs – Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (non-normal distributionof data); *P<0.05