Objective   To investigate the expression of human defensin-alpha1-3 (HNP1-3) in breast cancer and in normal tissues and determine whether there exists a relationship between HNP1-3 expression and clinicopathologic features.    Methods   Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression levels of HNP1-3 in 59 breast cancer specimens

and 20 normal tissues (fibroadenoma of breast or tumor-adjacent tissues). The relationship of the expression levels of HNP1-3 with patient’s age

clinical stage

histological grade

lymph node metastases and expression of PR/ER/C-erB-2 was analyzed.    Results   High level expression of HNP1-3 (95%) was expressed in those normal breast tissues. Different expression of HNP1-3 was found in breast cancer specimens and closely correlated with tumor histological stage and lymph node metastases (P0.05). There was no relation with ages

clinical stage and expression of PR/ER/C-erB-2 (P0.05).    Conclusion   HNP1-3 may play an important role in the pathogenesis of breast cancer

and regard as a biomarker for prognosis.