ALKBH5 and colorectal carcinoma: To explore the role of ALKBH5 expression in CRC, we established a stable ALKBH5 knockdown and over-expression model in both HCT116 and SW620 cell lines using specific shRNAs and found that the protein levels of ALKBH5 were significantly inhibited and over-expressed respectively (Fig. 3A, Additional file 2: Figure S2A).