Neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis-associated DNA methylation signatures in the colon are evident in stool samples of affected individuals

Neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a deadly and unpredictable gastrointestinal disease, for which no biomarkers exist. We aimed to describe the methylation patterns in stool and colon from infants with NEC. Overall design: We performed high-resolution genome-wide epigenomic analysis using solution-phase hybridization and next-generation sequencing of bisulfite-converted DNA from NEC colon tissue, healed NEC (non-NEC) colon tissue, and stool from infants with NEC or controls.