CD44 and colorectal carcinoma: The correlation between PCGF1 and the above stemness markers as follows: PCGF1 between CD133 (R = 0.17, P = 0.0027), CD44 (R = 0.38, P = 0.000), SOX2 (R = 0.19, P = 0.000), ALDH1A1 (R = 0.23, P = 0.000), LGR5 (R = 0.34, P = 0.000) and OCT4 (R = 0.52, P = 0.000) in primary CRC tissue samples in the GEPIA database (Supplementary Fig. 2).