ArticleNature communications2016
DNA methylation outliers in normal breast tissue identify field defects that are enriched in cancer.
Article in Nature communications, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 143 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
143 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- A cell-type deconvolution meta-analysis of whole blood EWAS reveals lineage-specific smoking-associated DNA methylation changes.Nature communications · 2020Pooled it
- Methylation patterns in serum DNA for early identification of disseminated breast cancer.Genome medicine · 2017Trial
- A comprehensive evaluation of computational models for identifying methylation variability in DNA methylation arrays.Heredity · 2026Review
- Methylation signatures distinguish non-small cell lung cancer subtypes and are associated with survival in smokers with lung squamous cell carcinoma.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2026Article
- CancerSubtyper: a deep learning framework for cancer subtyping through DNA methylation data.Epigenetics & chromatin · 2026Article
- Individualised progesterone receptor modulator prevention strategies for triple-negative breast cancer in BRCA1 pathogenic variant carriers.NPJ breast cancer · 2026Review
- Racial Disparity in Ductal Carcinoma in Situ: Risk-Predictive and Actionable Biomarkers for Early Intervention.Cancers · 2026Review
- A Vascular-Extracellular Matrix Molecular Program Identifies High-Risk Diffuse Glioma Across Independent Multi-Omics.Cancers · 2026Article
- Can DNA Methylation in Peritumoral and Contralateral Breast Tissue Predict Recurrence or Second Breast Cancers?Current issues in molecular biology · 2026Article
- Inferring gene-regulatory networks using epigenomic priors.iScience · 2026Article
- Article
- High- versus low-dose dietary n-3 PUFA treatment produces mixed effects on DNA methylation and epigenetic fidelity in breast adipose tissue.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Blood-based epigenetic instability linked to human aging and disease.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Mutational landscape of normal breast tissues adjacent to invasive breast cancer.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Article
- ReMeDy: A Flexible Statistical Framework For Region-based Detection of DNA Methylation Dysregulation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Article
- Local Promoter Methylation Disorder algorithm reveals bidirectional epigenetic disruption in DNMT3A-mutated AML and predicts azacitidine treatment response.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Methylation differences between assisted reproductive technology-conceived and naturally conceived children nearEpigenetics · 2025Article
- Unravelling the genetics and epigenetics of the ageing tumour microenvironment in cancer.Nature reviews. Cancer · 2025Review
83 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Identifying molecular alterations in normal tissue adjacent to cancer is important for understanding cancer aetiology and designing preventive measures. Here we analyse the DNA methylome of 569 breast tissue samples, including 50 from cancer-free women and 84 from matched normal cancer pairs. We use statistical algorithms for dissecting intra- and inter-sample cellular heterogeneity and demonstrate that normal tissue adjacent to breast cancer is characterized by tens to thousands of epigenetic alterations. We show that their genomic distribution is non-random, being strongly enriched for binding sites of transcription factors specifying chromatin architecture. We validate the field defects in an independent cohort and demonstrate that over 30% of the alterations exhibit increased enrichment within matched cancer samples. Breast cancers highly enriched for epigenetic field defects, exhibit adverse clinical outcome. Our data support a model where clonal epigenetic reprogramming towards reduced differentiation in normal tissue is an important step in breast carcinogenesis.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.