Expression of the three candidate proteins in CRC cell lines. Expression levels of aldolase A, cyclophilin A, and annexin A2 were examined by qRT-PCR and western blot. Expression levels of aldolase A (a), cyclophilin A (b), and annexin A2 (c) mRNA in CRC cells were almost all significantly higher than in normal colon epithelium. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.001. Expression levels of the three candidate proteins in cell extracts from CRC cell lines were similar to mRNA expression levels (d). Aldolase A was only detected in the culture medium of normal colon epithelium (e, upper panel). Cyclophilin A was not detected in any of the examined culture medium samples (e, middle panel). The level of annexin A2 in the culture medium appeared to depend on the level in the cell extract for each cell line (e, lower panel). Aldolase A was detected in human normal serum, and the level of aldolase A detected depended on the volume of serum loaded (f, lane 1, 10 μg serum; lane 2, 20 μg serum; lane 3, 30 μg serum)