目的　检测乳腺癌患者外周血CEAmRNA的表达 ,建立取材于外周血早期诊断乳腺癌转移的方法。方法　用巢式RT -PCR检测乳腺癌患者和乳腺良性肿瘤患者的外周血中CEAmRNA的表达。结果　 5 6例乳腺癌患者CEAmRNA有 2 1例表达 ,阳性率为 3 7.5 0 % ;42例乳腺良性疾病者CEAmRNA没有一例表达。两组有高度显著性差异 (χ2 =2 0 .0 4 ,P <0 .0 1 )　结论　巢式RT -PCR检测CEAmRNA阳性结果提示其具有形成转移的倾向 ,并可作为判断预后的辅助参考指标 Objective To detect the expression of CEAmRNA in peripheral blood of patients with breast cancer and establish the method of early diagnosis of breast cancer metastasis from peripheral blood. Methods The nested RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of CEAmRNA in peripheral blood of patients with breast cancer and benign breast tumors. Results There were 21 CEA mRNAs in 56 cases of breast cancer patients, the positive rate was 37.5%. No CEA mRNA was expressed in 42 cases of benign breast diseases. There was a highly significant difference between the two groups (χ2 = 20.04, P <0.01). Conclusion The nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect CEA mRNA positive results suggests that it has the tendency of metastasis, and can be used as a supplementary reference index