The global burden of breast cancer (BC) is increasing significantly. This trend is caused by several factors such as late diagnosis, limited treatment options for certain BC subtypes, drug resistance which all lead to poor clinical outcomes. Recent research has reported the role of epigenetic alterations in the mechanism of BC pathogenesis and its hallmarks include drug resistance and stemness features. The understanding of these modifications and their significance in the management of BC carcinogenesis is challenging and requires further attention. Nevertheless, it promises to provide novel insight needed for utilizing these alterations as potential diagnostic, prognostic markers, predict treatment efficacy, as well as therapeutic agents. This highlights the importance of continuing research development to further advance the existing knowledge on epigenetics and BC carcinogenesis to overcome the current challenges. Hence, this review aims to shed light and discuss the current state of epigenetics research in the diagnosis and management of BC.

乳腺癌（BC）的全球负担正在显着增加。这种趋势是由多种因素引起的，例如诊断较晚、某些 BC 亚型的治疗选择有限、耐药性，这些都导致不良的临床结果。最近的研究报道了表观遗传改变在 BC 发病机制中的作用，其标志包括耐药性和干性特征。对这些修饰的理解及其在 BC 癌发生管理中的意义具有挑战性，需要进一步关注。然而，它有望提供利用这些改变作为潜在诊断、预后标志物、预测治疗效果以及治疗剂所需的新见解。这凸显了继续研究开发以进一步推进有关表观遗传学和 BC 致癌作用的现有知识以克服当前挑战的重要性。因此，本综述旨在阐明和讨论表观遗传学研究在 BC 诊断和管理中的现状。