Chemokines (chemotactic cytokines) promote leukocyte attraction to sites of inflammation and cancer. Certain chemokines promote and regulate neoplastic progression, including metastasis and angiogenesis. One such chemokine, CXCL10, was found to be expressed in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissue. To gain insight into the prognostic significance of CXCL10, we investigated whether the levels of this chemokine were altered in the colorectal tissue or plasma of CRC patients. Using Luminex technology for protein analyses, we observed a significantly higher CXCL10 protein level in cancer tissue compared to that in paired normal tissue. Moreover, significantly higher plasma levels of CXCL10 were detected in patients compared to those in control subjects and the plasma levels of CXCL10 in disseminated disease were found to be significantly higher compared to those in localized disease. The single‑nucleotide polymorphism rs8878, which has been described in exon 4 in the 3'‑untranslated region of the CXCL10 gene, was investigated using a TaqMan system. There were significant differences in genotype distribution and allelic frequencies between CRC patients and control subjects. In conclusion, altered CXCL10 protein concentrations in CRC tissues or plasma and the rs8878 genotype variant of CXCL10 may contribute to the prediction of clinical outcome.