At the protein level, IHC staining was carried out in our own cohort, and survival analysis revealed that CRC patients with low levels of SPINK4 protein expression had significantly worse disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival than those with high levels of SPINK4 protein expression (5Y-DFS of low expression vs. high expression: 58.5% vs. 83.6%, P = 0.007, Fig. 6d; 5Y-OS of low expression vs. high expression: 58.4% vs. 83.6%, P = 0.014, Fig. 6e). The gene discussed is SPINK4; the disease is colorectal carcinoma.