We found that all ten EMT-related genes were frequently methylated in primary breast tumours, i.e. CLDN18 (100 %), KRT85 (100 %), MIR127 (100 %), MIR433 (100 %), MIR23b (60 %), KRT83 (100 %), MST1R (60 %), BVES (60 %), CLDN6 (50 %) and HOXD10 (55 %) (Fig. 1a). Here, POPDC1 is linked to breast neoplasm.