Objective: We investigated the expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) so as to explore its relationship with carcinogenesis and development of breast cancer. Methods: IGF-1 mRNA levels in tissues of breast cancer, adjacent breast cancer in 70 cases breast cancer patients were analyzed by RT-PCR with the normal breast tissues of paired breast as the control. Results: The level of IGF-1 mRNA expression in breast cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in the paired adjacent to breast cancer tissues, normal mammary gland tissues. The ration of IGF-1/β-actin were 0.679 ± 0.075, 0.463 ± 0.085, 0.305 ± 0.031, respectively. There was significant difference between different groups (P < 0.005). Expression of IGF-1 was associated with lymph node metastasis, pathological staging and estrogen receptor status of breast cancer and no significant relationship with tumor pathological grouping (P > 0.005). Conclusion: The high-level expression of IGF-1 in breast cancer tissues is correlated with carcinogenesis, development and metastasis of breast cancer. Objective: We investigated the expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) so as to explore its relationship with carcinogenesis and development of breast cancer. Methods: IGF-1 mRNA levels in tissues of breast cancer, adjacent breast cancer in 70 cases of breast cancer patients were analyzed by RT-PCR with the normal breast tissues of paired breast as the control. Results: The level of IGF-1 mRNA expression in breast cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in the paired adjacent to breast cancer tissues , the normal of mammary gland tissues. The ration of IGF-1 / β-actin were 0.679 ± 0.075, 0.463 ± 0.085, 0.305 ± 0.031, respectively. There was significant difference between different groups (P <0.005) associated with lymph node metastasis, pathological staging and estrogen receptor status of breast cancer and no significant relationship with tumor pathological grouping (P> 0.005). Conclusion: The high-level expression of IGF-1 in breast cancer tissue s is correlated with carcinogenesis, development and metastasis of breast cancer.