Using 60 plasma samples (20 from patients with premalignant cancer lesions, 20 CRC patients stage III and IV, and 20 from control individuals), levels in plasma for BDNF (median ± SD = 227.93 ± 78.75 ng·mL−1 for colorectal patients, 273.40 ± 60.99 ng·mL−1 for premalignant subjects, and78.05 ± 63.94 ng·mL−1 for controls), and EMAP‐II (101 665 ± 24 177 pg·mL−1 for controls, 100 590 ± 34 548 pg·mL−1 for premalignant subjects, and 76 985 ± 34 839 pg·mL−1 for CRC patients), significantly discriminated patients from controls samples for BDNF and EMAP‐II (P‐value < 0.05) (Fig. 3). Here, AIMP1 is linked to cancer.