DNA methylation analysis of normal colon organoids from familial adenomatous polyposis patients reveals novel insight into colon cancer development

To develop a better understanding of the biology underlying risk for CRC posed by germ line APC mutations we performed DNA methylation analysis of colon organoids derived from normal-appearing colons of FAP subjects (n=7) and matched healthy individuals (n=16). We identified a large number (n=358) of differentially methylated regions (DMRs) between colon organoids of FAP and healthy subjects, many of which were also identified in a comparison of tumor and normal adjacent tissue (NAT) in two independent, sporadic CRC tumor cohorts. Illumina EPIC array protocols were performed on 16 healthy and 7 FAP colon organoids derived from left colon at the time of colonoscopy.