Expression of CEBPB was correlated with more advanced pathological stages of colorectal cancer (P < 0.05), was not associated with T stages (P > 0.05), but was correlated with N stages (P < 0.05) and M stages (P < 0.01) (Supplementary Fig. 3E–H). The gene discussed is CEBPB; the disease is colorectal cancer.