In recent work, researchers from Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine and Shanghai Colorectal Cancer Research Center reported that the transcription factor hematopoietically expressed homeobox (HHEX) promotes tumorigenesis in colitis-associated colorectal cancer. In a new paper, the team aimed to further characterize the biological function and potentially dysregulated mechanisms of HHEX during intestinal inflammation, which remained largely unexplored.