Hypermethylation of the myogenic gene Myf-3 in human breast carcinomas.

The methylation status of Myf-3 was studied in 34 human primary breast carcinomas and 9 normal breast tissues. One third of the carcinomas contained hypermethylated Myf-3. All normal tissues contained unmethylated Myf-3. Myf-3 hypermethylation was more common in poorly differentiated grade 3 tumours than in better differentiated grade 1 and 2 tumours.