In the major subgroup of CRCs (70% of CRCs, 63% of the MSS and 80% of the MSI CRCs), tumor cells exhibited an aberrantly active caspase-1 (compared to paired normal colonic epithelial cells), which was functional since the percentage of aCasp1+ tumor cells positively correlated with the amount of mature IL-18 secreted in the supernatants of CRC explant cultures. The gene discussed is CASP1; the disease is neoplasm.