**Acknowledgment**

The authors would like to thank member of Japanese Society for Cancer of the Colon and Recum; Professor Ajioka (Division of Molecular and Functional Pathology, Department of Cellular Function, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University), Dr Ueno (Department of Surgery, National Defense Medical College, Saitama, Professer Oh‐ kura (Department of Pathology, Kyorin University School of Medicine), Professor Kashida (Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Faculty of Medicine, Kinki University), Professor Togashi (Department of Gastroenterology, Fukushima Prefectural Aizu General Hospital), Professor Yao (Department of Human Pathology, Juntendo University School of Medicine) Dr Wada (Department of Pathology, Juntendo Shizuoka Hospital of Juntendo University School of Medicine), Professor Watanabe (Department of Surgical Oncology The University of Tokyo), Dr Ochiai (Pathology Division, Research Center for Innovative Oncol‐ ogy, National Cancer Center Hospital East), Professor Sugai (Diagnostic Pathology, Iwate Medical University, Morioka), Professor Sugihara (Surgical Oncology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University). And we also thank Dr Fujii (Center for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Kyo‐ to-Katsura Hospital) for his insightful comments. Moreover, the authors greatly thank Ms C. Sato -Matsuyama, A. Shimizu, M. Katayama, (Department of Surgical and Molecular Pathol‐ ogy, DOKKYO Medical University School of Medicine) for technical assistance and to Ms. S. Kidachi, A. Kikuchi (Department of Surgical and Molecular Pathology, DOKKYO Medical University School of Medicine) for secretarial assistance in preparing the manuscript.

This work was partially supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C: No 18659101, 23590410) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan and DOKKYO Medical University Young Investigator Award (2009, 2011, 2012).
