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Aims:  The purpose of this study was to examine the occurrence of CD44 isoforms in breast carcinomas and their role in predicting clinical outcome.

Methods and results:  Shock‐frozen tumour tissues from 110 patients with breast carcinoma were examined by immunohistochemistry using antibodies directed against CD44s, v5, v6, v7 and v3–10. In addition, 80 of these tumours were available for quantitative real‐time reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) analysis of CD44s and CD44v6. Immunohistochemically, the positive tumours showed cytoplasmic and/or membranous staining with all antibodies. Staining results did not correlate with histological subtype, lymph node status, status of steroid receptors, tumour size or age. Neither was any correlation found for overall and disease‐free survival. Quantitative real‐time RT‐PCR of CD44s and CD44v6, however, revealed that expression of …