Interleukin-24 is correlated with differentiation and lymph node numbers in rectal cancer

Table 2 Correlation of interleukin-24 and vascular endothelial growth factor expressions with patients’ characteristics in lymph node positive rectal cancer patients

	IL-24			VEGF
	Negative1 (%)	Positive1 (%)	P value	Negative (%)	Positive (%)	P value
Differentiation			0.009			0.634
Well	19 (41.3)	27 (58.7)		12 (26.1)	34 (73.9)
Moderate	12 (35.3)	22 (64.7)		10 (29.4)	24 (70.6)
Poor	9 (90.0)	1 (10.0)	0.004 (poor vs others)	4 (40.0)	6 (60.0)
N stage			0.055			0.463
N1a	9 (37.5)	15 (62.5)		4 (16.7)	20 (83.3)
N1b	11 (42.3)	15 (57.7)		8 (30.8)	18 (69.2)
N2a	4 (25.0)	12 (75.0)		6 (37.5)	10 (62.5)
N2b	16 (66.7)	8 (33.3)	0.016 (N1~N2a vs N2b)	8 (33.3)	16 (66.7)
Stage			0.055			0.164
IIIa	3 (37.5)	5 (62.5)		0 (0.0)	8 (100.0)
IIIb	22 (37.3)	37 (62.7)		18 (30.5)	41 (69.5)
IIIc	15 (65.2)	8 (34.8)	0.028 (IIIa, IIIb vs IIIc)	8 (34.8)	15 (65.2)

¹Negative (n = 9) and weak (n = 31) intensities were classified as negative expression, and strong intensity (n = 50) as positive one. IL: Interleukin; VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor.