APC and cancer: Aberrant activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in malignant tumors, often due to CTNNB1 gain-of-function or APC loss-of-function mutations, leads to the upregulation of crucial target genes, such as c-MYC, Cyclin D1, and SOX9, which are involved in promoting cancer cell proliferation, survival, and sustaining CSCs stemness (17, 22, 23).