Key words: breast cancer, DNA methylation, prognosis, endocrine treatment

"Epigenetic profiling of hormone receptor positive breast cancer and the risk of disease recurrence"

This thesis investigated whether the development of metastases in patients treated for hormone-sensitive breast cancer can be predicted on the basis of the DNA methylation profile of the tumor. The thesis consists of a main study investigating the prognostic value of DNA methylation in Dutch patients, and a number of technical studies that made the analyses in the main study possible. The conclusion of the study is that DNA methylation has a predictive value for the occurrence of metastases in women treated for hormone-sensitive breast cancer, but that this predictive value is no better than already existing clinical factors.

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