Atypical methylation of the interleukin-8 gene correlates strongly with the metastatic potential of breast carcinoma cells.

Previously, we have shown that a strong correlation exists between the metastatic potential of breast carcinoma cell lines and their ectopic expression of IL-8. The undifferentiated, highly metastatic cell lines with high metastatic potential produce much more IL-8 than their differentiated lower metastatic counterparts. After eliminating the possibility that transcription factor activity was responsible for differences in IL-8 release, we examined the IL-8 gene for possible epigenetic modifications.