Among five genes reduced by miR-378a, no significant change in levels of MDM2, TFRC, and VCAM1 was observed in human CRC tumors (n = 275) versus normal colon specimen (n = 41) from TCGA database (Additional file 1: Fig. S1A–C), while levels of c-MYC and ODC1 were significantly increased (Fig. 1E, F). Here, TFRC is linked to colorectal carcinoma.