Tumor budding at the advancing front of CRC is an early event in the metastatic process.24 This phenomenon can predict patients at high risk of recurrence and serve as an independent prognostic marker in CRC patients.25, 26 In our studies, CTHRC1 expression in tumor buds revealed a more aggressive phenotype of CRC; our results suggested that CTHRC1 may be a tumor invasion promoter. This evidence concerns the gene CTHRC1 and neoplasm.