Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression of excision repair cross complement group 1（ERCC1） in breast carcinoma and their relationship between the expression and clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis.
MethodsRealtime quantitative PCR was used to determine the mRNA expression of ERCC1 in 363 breast carcinoma patients. The relationship between the expression and clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis were analyzed. Results The median expression level of ERCC1 mRNA was 102×10-2 in 363 breast carcinoma tissues， with 181 patients in high level group， and 182 in low level group. Expression of ERCC1 mRNA was associated with expressions of ER， PR（P＜0.05）， but not with patients age， tumor size， axillary lymph node metastasis， pathological type， histological grade， HER-2（P＞0.05）. The median diseasefree survival in patients with high ERCC1 mRNA expression and low ERCC1 mRNA expression were both not reached with no statistical difference（P＞0.05）. The median progress-free survival（PFS） was 34.0 months（95%CI: 32.004-35.996） in patients with high ERCC1 mRNA expression. The median PFS in patients with low ERCC1 mRNA expression was not reached. There was statistical difference（P=0.017）.Conclusion The expression of ERCC1 mRNA in breast cancer may be closely related to estrogen metabolism of patients. Detection of ERCC1 mRNA expression may help to predict the survival and prognosis of breast cancer patients.