Expression of 14-3-3 σ (σ) is induced in response to DNA damage, and causes cells to arrest in G ₂ . By SAGE (serial analysis of gene expression) analysis, we identified σ as a gene whose expression is 7-fold lower in breast carcinoma cells than in normal breast epithelium. We verified this finding by Northern blot analysis. Remarkably, σ mRNA was undetectable in 45 of 48 primary breast carcinomas. Genetic alterations at σ such as loss of heterozygosity were rare (1/20 informative cases), and no mutations were detected (0/34). On the other hand, hypermethylation of CpG islands in the σ gene was detected in 91% (75/82) of breast tumors and was associated with lack of gene expression. Hypermethylation of σ is functionally important, because treatment of σ-non-expressing breast cancer cell lines with the drug 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine resulted in demethylation of the gene and synthesis of σ mRNA. Breast cancer cells lacking σ expression showed increased number of chromosomal breaks and gaps when exposed to γ-irradiation. Therefore, it is possible that loss of σ expression contributes to malignant transformation by impairing the G ₂ cell cycle checkpoint function, thus allowing an accumulation of genetic defects. Hypermethylation and loss of σ expression are the most consistent molecular alterations in breast cancer identified so far.

Little is known about epigenetic silencing of genes by promoter hypermethylation in lobular breast cancers. The promoter methylation status of 5 cancer‐related genes (RASSF1A, HIN‐1, RAR‐β, Cyclin D2 and Twist) was evaluated in 2 types of lobular cancers, in situ (LCIS) and invasive lobular carcinomas (ILC) (n = 32), and compared to ductal in situ (DCIS) and invasive (IDC) breast cancers (n = 71). By using methylation‐specific PCR (MSP), 100% of ILC and 69% of LCIS cases were found to have 1 or more hypermethylated genes among the panel of 5 genes (compared to 100% IDC and 95% of DCIS). Two or more hypermethylated genes were detected per tumor in 79% of invasive and 61% of in situ lobular carcinomas compared to 81% of IDC and 77% of DCIS. By contrast, DNA from nearly all normal reduction mammoplasty tissues (n = 8) was unmethylated for the 5 genes. The methylation profiles of lobular vs. ductal carcinomas with respect to RASSF1A, Cyclin D2, RARβ, and Hin‐1 genes were similar, suggesting that gene silencing by promoter hypermethylation is likely to be important in both groups of diseases. Distinctly different, Twist was hyper‐ methylated less often in ILC (16%, 3/19 cases) than in IDC (56%, 15/27 cases) (p = 0.01). These results suggest that these 2 types of tumors share many common methylation patterns and some molecular differences. Additional studies might lend further understanding into the etiology and clinical behavior of this tumor type.