The association of bacteria and host methylation in colorectal cancer.

Altered microbiome composition and aberrant promoter hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) are two important hallmarks of colorectal cancer (CRC). Nevertheless, it is not known whether CRC-associated bacteria can directly regulate host-cell DNA methylation. Here, we performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing and methyl-CpG binding domain-based capture sequencing on paired human adenoma and CRC samples to study the potential associations between bacteria and the host promoter methylation.