Almost all analysed CpG sites in EBF3 and TBC1D16 were significantly differentially methylated (− 14% in the gene body of EBF3 and + 9% in the gene body of TBC1D16) in both adenomas and carcinomas compared to normal colon tissue (red vs blue and green vs blue boxplots, respectively). Here, TBC1D16 is linked to adenoma.