Objective: To study BRCA1 gene expression in sporadic breast cancer in Han nationality and its relations to clinical pathological parameters.
Methods: Immunohistochemical method was used to detect the BRCA1 protein in paraffin embedded breast cancer tissue of 51 patients. The relationship between BRCA1 protein and clinical pathological features was analysed.
Results: BRCA1 protein was located in the nuclear of breast cancer cells. The rate of its down regulation of expression was 49.0% (25/51), which correlated reversely with c-erbB-2 protein, but did not correlate with histological grading, tumor size, lymph node involvement and patient age.
Conclusion: The detection of BRCA1 protein expression may be a reflection of its gene alteration. So it may be a primary method for screening the susceptibility to breast cancer.