Gene probe methylation differences were validated in an independent methylation array dataset (n = 90; accession number GSE73549), with probes in all genes except for ASB2 able to significantly distinguish between normal tissues, prostate tumors, and lymph node PCa metastases (Kruskal-Wallis test p < 0.05, Additional file 14: Table S6). This evidence concerns the gene ASB2 and posterior cortical atrophy.