Abstract: Objective To detect the expression of Axl and its ligand Gas6 protein in malignant breast tissues and the correlation of its expression with clinical features. Methods Fresh samples of breast cancer and paracancerous tissues of 55 women patients and the fresh tissues of 20 benign controls were collected. The expression of Axl and Gas6 was detected by Western blotting and immunohistochemical PV-9000 method. The expression levels between the benign and malignant tissues，and correlation of Axl and Gas6 with axillary lymph node metastasis were analyzed. Results The relative quantity and positive rate of Axl in malignant tissues were higher than paracancerous tissues and benign controls（0.272±0.052，0.134±0.008 and 0.116±0.007，60.0％, 36.4％ and 40.0％）with statistical significance（P＜0.05）. Similarly，the relative quantity and positive rate of Gas6 in malignant tissues were higher than paracancerous tissues and benign controls（1.147± 0.078，0.49 ±0.078 and 0.474±0.078，58.1％, 21.8％ and 20.0％） with statistical significance（P＜0.05）. Between paracancerous tissues and benign controls，the difference had no statistical significance（P＞0.05）. The expression level of Axl and Gas6 protein in lymph node metastasis group was higher than those without metastasis（0.408±0.007 vs.0.298±0.041，1.277±0.195 vs.0.880 ±0.037；80.0％ vs.48.0％，76.7％ vs.40.0％）with statistical significance（P＜0.05）. The expression of Axl was positively correlated to Gas6（r=0.612，P=0.041）. Conclusion Axl and Gas6 play an important role in the occurrence and development of breast cancer，and they promote axillary lymph node metastasis of breast cancer.