Selective hypermethylation is evident in small intestine samples from infants with necrotizing enterocolitis [targeted_ileum]

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the most common and lethal gastrointestinal disease affecting preterm infants. NEC develops suddenly and is characterized by gut barrier destruction, an inflammatory response, intestinal necrosis and multi-system organ failure. There is currently no method for early NEC detection, and the pathogenesis of NEC remains unclear. We performed high-resolution genome-wide epigenomic analysis using solution-phase hybridization and next-generation sequencing of bisulfite-converted DNA from NEC ileum tissue and healed NEC (non-NEC) ileum tissue.