Concerning the four intestinal-specific probes, only VIL1 presented statistically significant differences among the group of CRC patients and controls (P = 0.00015; Fig. 2F); although FAM132A, GPA33 and TBX20 presented a reasonable specificity, they failed to demonstrate an acceptable sensitivity for the detection of colorectal CTC (data not shown). This evidence concerns the gene C1QTNF12 and colorectal carcinoma.