| BC | breast cancer |
| EMT | epithelial–mesenchymal transition |
| CpG | 5′-cytosine-phosphate-guanine-3′ |
| MMP | matrix metalloproteinase |
| MSRE-PCR | methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme digestion PCR |
| TIMPs | tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases |
| RRBS | reduced representation bisulfite sequencing |