Through immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining of 143 paired CRC and NCT samples, we also found that more than half of CRCs (62.2%, 89/143) displayed elevated ALDH1L2 expression compared with their matched NCTs (Figs. 1D and S1B), and patients with higher ALDH1L2 expression showed poorer overall survival (Fig. 1E). Here, ALDH1L2 is linked to colorectal carcinoma.