Breast Cancer Methylomes Establish an Epigenomic Foundation for Metastasis

Cancer-specific changes in DNA methylation can alter genetic stability, genomic structure, and gene expression. Promoter CpG island methylation can result in transcriptional silencing and plays an important role in the oncogenic process. We used genome-wide analysis to characterize the methylomes of breast cancers with diverse metastatic behavior. Here, we describe the identification of novel groups of breast tumors characterized by the presence or absence of coordinate hypermethylation at a large number of genes, demonstrating the existence of a breast-CpG island methylator phenotype (B-CIMP). B-CIMP imparts a distinct epigenomic profile and is a strong determinant of metastatic potential.

60

Fang F, Turcan S, Rimner A, Kaufman A, Giri D, Morris LG, Shen R, Seshan V, Mo Q, Heguy A, Baylin SB, Ahuja N, Viale A, Massague J, Norton L, Vahdat LT, Moynahan ME, Chan TA