USP18 and rectum adenocarcinoma: Further verification via the GEPIA database revealed elevated USP18 expression in colorectal adenocarcinoma (COAD) and rectum adenocarcinoma (READ) tissues relative to adjacent normal tissues, as shown in Figure 1B. Additionally, analysis of the GSE87211 dataset revealed significantly greater USP18 expression in CRC tissues than in adjacent tissues, as illustrated in Figure 1C. To validate the expression level of USP18 in CRC cells, we selected CRC cell lines representing different stages of disease progression for our study.