Interestingly, this elevation appeared to be correlated with the CRC progression: DCLK3 expression was at a comparable level in the healthy and adenoma tissues, and increased ∼2-fold in the stage I tumours and remained at this level during tumour malignancy (P=2.2 × 10−16, Kruskal–Wallis test) (Fig. 4b). This evidence concerns the gene DCLK3 and neoplasm.