Meanwhile, the results of immunohistochemistry indicated that CAPE and CAPE-pNO2 decreased the expression of VEGF to disturb the pervasion and growth of tumours, while there was almost no expression of VEGF in normal colon tissues, and many reports have shown that the combination of VEGF with tyrosine kinases and neuropilins on the tumour cell surface promoted the progress of tumour invasion and cancer stem cell formation41–43, and VEGF could be related to the survival of patients with colorectal carcinoma and should be considered a predictor of the prognosis clinically44. Here, VEGFA is linked to cancer.