Objective and design of study: Determination of TGF-beta 1 levels in plasma of patients with operable breast cancer. The correlation of TGF levels with the stage of disease and other prognostic markers. Prospective study. Methods: There were 36 patients fulfilling the entrance criteria included in the study. The blood samples were taken to set the plasma levels of TGF-beta before the operation, with no adjuvant therapy. 27 age matched healthy volunteers served as controls. The study was approved by ethical board and patients signed informed consent regarding blood sampling and results presentation. Differences between groups were determined using the Mann-Whitney U-test. Results: We proved that TGF–beta 1 levels are elevated in patients with operable breast cancer. Moreover, TGF-beta in plasma of patients with positive sentinel lymph node was significantly higher as compared to patients with negative sentinel node. Most important is the fact that patients involved in our study were in very early stages of disease. Conclusion: TGF-beta 1 is marker correlating with breast cancer disease risk factors, especially with positive sentinel lymph node. We conclude that TGF is one of the early markers which may help define the risk of disease progression already before the operation.

        Key words: breast cancer, risk factors, regional lymph nodes, prognostic markers, TGF-beta