Although this is mainly due to the vast majority of these cancers having high THOR methylation and the small amount of tumors with low methylation values to show statistical difference, this further suggests that in contrast to early stages PCa, where some tumors might lack self-renewal capacity, advanced stage tumors will maintain their telomeres by either THOR hypermethylation or other pathways to activate telomerase. The gene discussed is THORLNC; the disease is cancer.