Colonic specimens were prepared and analyzed by pathologists at the City of Hope Pathology Core Lab. Histology and immunohistochemical staining procedures were described previously29 (link). The antibodies used were as follows: BrdU (DAKO, Cat#: M0744), Ki67 (DAKO, Cat#: M7204), and P-Stat3 Tyr705 (Cell Signaling Technology, Cat#: 9145). TUNEL staining was performed using the Cell Death Detection Kit from Roche (Cat#: 11684795910), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Standards for tumor grading, epithelial damage score and inflammatory cell infiltration score are described in Tables S1, S2 and S366 (link).