In addition, we further demonstrate that PHF14 promotes LAD progression and metastasis through enhancing TGF-β signaling and illustrate that not only the SMAD7 DNA methylation level in LAD tissues, but also that in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) of liquid biopsies correlate with poor prognosis of LAD patients. Here, SMAD7 is linked to leukocyte adhesion deficiency.