CD44 and neoplasm: Methods: Transcript and/or protein expression of HA-family (HA, HAS-1, HAS-2, HAS-3, CD44, RHAMM, HYAL-1, and HYAL-4), and EMT markers (N-cadherin (N-Cadh), β-catenin, TWIST1, SNAI1, Slug, MMP-9, and Vimentin) were analyzed in normal and tumor specimens in two COAD cohorts from patients treated with surgery (cohort-1: n = 94; cohort-2: n = 68) and in the TCGA “COADREAD” cohort (n = 383).