The CpG island methylator phenotype in breast cancer is associated with the lobular subtype

Background: Aberrations in DNA methylation patterns are well-described in human malignancies. However, the existence of the ‘CpG island methylator phenotype’ (CIMP) in human breast cancer is still controversial. Materials & methods: Illumina's HumanMethylation 450K BeadChip was used to analyze genome-wide DNA methylation patterns. Chromosomal abnormalities were determined by array-based CGH. Results: Invasive lobular breast carcinomas exhibit the highest number of differentially methylated CpG sites and a strong inverse correlation of aberrant DNA hypermethylation and copy number alterations. Nine differentially methylated regions within seven genes discriminating the investigated subg…