In view of the fact that TRPV1 is shown to play a protective role against initiation and progression of colon cancer in mouse models (Vinuesa et al., 2012) while IBD actually predisposes to colon cancer development, it is hypothesized that decreased TRPV1 expression in the epithelium of UC samples may be indicative of the diminishing protective role of TRPV1 against colon cancer with the exacerbated colon inflammation (Rizopoulos et al., 2018). Here, TRPV1 is linked to inflammatory bowel disease.