Since chronic intestinal inflammation has been associated with increased CRC risk, potentially mediated by oxidative DNA damage and innate and adaptive immune responses (Feagins et al. 2009; Ullman and Itzkowitz 2011), SLC15A4 may further play an important role in the initial inflammation-induced colorectal carcinogenesis (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas/efotraits/EFO_0003767; accessed on March 5th, 2021). Here, SLC15A4 is linked to inflammation.