Collagen triple helix repeat containing-1 (CTHRC1) was known as a cancer-related protein, and overexpression of CTHRC1 was believed to be involved in tumorigenesis, proliferation, invasion, and metastasis in various gastrointestinal malignancies, including gastric cancer, as well as other non-gastrointestinal malignant tumors (Wang et al., 2012b; Mei et al., 2020). Here, CTHRC1 is linked to cancer.