In order to assess the potential relevance of our findings for the pathogenesis of human colorectal cancer, we analysed the expression profile of CYP11A1, HSD11B1, HSD11B2, NR5A2 (LRH‐1) and NR0B2 (SHP) in tumours from 379 colorectal cancer patients, and correlated their overall survival to the expression of these steroidogenic factors. The gene discussed is HSD11B1; the disease is neoplasm.