Objective To investigate the expressions of PTEN and Caspase-3 proteins in human breast carcinoma

and to evaluate their clinicopathological implications during the tumorigenesis and progression of breast cancer.Methods The expressions of PTEN and Caspase-3 proteins in 95 cases of breast cancer and 15 cases of benign breast diseases were investigated immunohistochemically.Correlations between the expression of PTEN protein

Caspase-3 protein

and clinicopathological features of breast cancers were analyzed.Results The loss expression rate of PTEN protein in tumor tissues was significantly higher than that in benign breast diseases（33.7% vs.0

P<0.01）.Analysis of the clinicopathological features showed that PTEN expression level was negatively correlated with TNM stage

histological grade

axillary lymph node status

recurrence

and metastasis（P<0.05）.The positive expression level of Caspase-3 was negatively correlated with TNM stage（P<0.01）

but not related with histological grade

axillary lymph node status

recurrence

or metastasis（P>0.05）.In addition

the expression of PTEN protein had significantly positive correlation with the expression of Caspase-3 protein in breast cancer（P<0.01）.Conclusion The combination detection of PTEN and Caspase-3 may serve as an important index to estimate the pathobiological behavior and prognosis of breast cancer.