TNIK and colorectal carcinoma: We selected TNIK as a target gene for further analysis for the following reasons; (i) TNIK is known to be associated with the progression of CRC through Wnt signaling pathways [10, 11], (ii) TNIK gene amplification was reported to be required for the progression of gastric cancer, and nuclear expression of TNIK in hepatocellular carcinoma was reported to be associated with poor prognosis [12, 13], (iii) the correlation between the expression levels of TNIK in CRC patients and their clinical outcomes have not been revealed.