Using gene expression data from 800 primary CRC samples (from publically available data sets used by Guinney et al. (2015)), we found that relapse-free survival as well as overall survival of CRC patients with high CCN2 expression (N = 200; top-25 %) was significantly shorter than in CRC patients with low CCN2 expression (N = 600; lower 75 %), p < 0.001 and p = 0.011, respectively (Fig. 1a, b). The gene discussed is CCN2; the disease is colorectal carcinoma.