Methods and nucleic acids for determining the prognosis of a cancer subject

A method for determining methylation of SEPTIN-9 (SEQ ID NO:

• 1) genomic colon or colorectal tumor cell DNA of a human subject with colorectal cancer following removal of a primary colon or colorectal tumor but prior to further treatment, the method comprising:
• detecting the presence of, or measuring the level of, methylated genomic SEPTIN-9 DNA in a stool, blood, serum or plasma sample obtained from the human subject following the removal of the primary colon or colorectal tumor but prior to further treatment, wherein the methylated genomic SEPTIN-9 DNA is from colon or colorectal tumor cells, and wherein the detection uses a primer pair in which one of the primers hybridizes under stringent conditions to at least 9 nucleotides of the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:26 or a complement thereof, and the other primer of the primer pair hybridizes under stringent conditions to at least 9 nucleotides of the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:25 or a complement thereof, thereby
• determining methylation of the SEPTIN-9 genomic colon or colorectal tumor cell DNA of the human subject after removal of the primary colon or colorectal tumor, wherein:
• the colorectal cancer is Stage I, II, or III according to the Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) staging system, and
• when the colorectal cancer is Stage III, the removal of the primary colon or colorectal tumor includes the removal of nearby lymph nodes.