About the Authors

Christopher P. E. Lange

Affiliations Department of Surgery, Groene Hart Hospital, Gouda, The Netherlands, Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

Mihaela Campan

Affiliation Department of Surgery, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, California, United States of America

Toshinori Hinoue

Affiliation USC Epigenome Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America

Roderick F. Schmitz

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Groene Hart Hospital, Gouda, The Netherlands

Andrea E. van der Meulen-de Jong

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

Hilde Slingerland

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

Peter J. M. J. Kok

Affiliation Department of Clinical Chemistry, Groene Hart Hospital, Gouda, The Netherlands

Cornelis M. van Dijk

Affiliation Department of Pathology, Groene Hart Hospital, Gouda, The Netherlands

Daniel J. Weisenberger

Affiliation USC Epigenome Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America

Hui Shen

Affiliation USC Epigenome Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America

Robertus A. E. M. Tollenaar

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

Peter W. Laird

plaird@usc.edu

Affiliations Department of Surgery, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, California, United States of America, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, California, United States of America, USC Epigenome Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors would like to declare that P.W. Laird holds the following issued patents on the MethyLight technology (“Process for High Throughput DNA Methylation Analysis”; U.S. Patent # 6,331,393; Date Filed: May 14, 1999; Date of Issue: December 18, 2001. “Process for High Throughput DNA Methylation Analysis”; U.S. Patent # 7,112,404; Date Filed: December 10, 2001; Date of Issue: September 26, 2006. “Process for High Throughput DNA Methylation Analysis”; Date Filed: December 10, 2001; Date of Issue: June 30, 2009), which have been licensed to Epigenomics AG. In addition, P.W. Laird, D.J. Weisenberger, and M. Campan are named as inventors on the following pending patent application for the Digital MethyLight technology (“DNA Methylation Analysis by Digital Bisulfite Genomic Sequencing and Digital MethyLight”; Pub App No: 20080254474; Date Filed: April 14, 2008). D.J. Weisenberger is a consultant for Zymo Research. There are no further patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors‚ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: CPEL MC DJW PWL. Performed the experiments: CPEL MC TH HS. Analyzed the data: CPEL MC TH HS PWL. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: CPEL RFS AEMJ HS PJMJK CMD RAEMT PWL. Wrote the paper: CPEL.