To explore the expression of CD36 in colorectal tumorigenesis, we firstly analyzed CD36 messenger RNA (mRNA) expression with the public GEO (Gene Expression Omnibus) databases (GDS2947, GSE10950, GSE44076, GSE74602, GDS3756, GSE11223) and TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) database, results revealed that CD36 mRNA level was downregulated independently in inflamed location of ulcerative colitis, adenomas and tumors compared with their normal counterparts (Fig. 1a and Supplementary Fig. 1a). Here, CD36 is linked to ulcerative colitis.