en Molecular Genetics & Genomics Molecular Genetics & Genomics مقاله کامل Full Length/Original Article <div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Background:</strong> Intra-operative molecular diagnostic assays are currently used for the detection of lymph node metastases. The objective of this study was to find new biomarkers to improve diagnostic accuracy in the detection of metastatic axillary lymph nodes in breast cancer patients. <strong>Methods:</strong> We applied an absolute quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR to quantitate the expression of <em>CK19</em>, <em>KLK11</em>, and <em>CLEC3A</em> mRNAs in 79 FFPE sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) from 35 breast cancer patients. The<em> CK19</em> was confirmed as a standard biomarker, and the level of expression of selected new markers, <em>KLK11</em> and <em>CLEC3A</em>, was evaluated in pathologically negative and positive SLNs by using absolute quantitative real-time PCR<span dir="RTL">.</span> <strong>Results:</strong> The overall concordance of the <em>CK19</em> gene with pathological results was 92.4% (less than 250 copies) in negative SLNs and 85% in positive SLNs (more than 250 copies). The sensitivity and specificity of <em>CK19</em>, which were detected by real-time PCR, was 85% and 46%, respectively. Our results revealed that lower <em>CLEC3A</em> was associated with more lymph node involvement. We could set a cut-off point for <em>CLEC3A</em> with the sensitivity of 78% and specificity of 60%. Also, the mean <em>KLK11</em> had a statistically significant reverse correlation with tumor grade (<em>p</em> = 0.017). Higher <em>CK19 </em>levels were related to more tumor invasion (<em>p</em> < 0.0001)<span dir="RTL">.</span> <strong>Conclusion:</strong> Regarding the findings, <em>CLEC3A</em> along with <em>CK19</em> can be used as a promising marker with high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of metastatic SLN<em>.</em></div> CLEC3A, Kallikreins, Sentinel lymph node 183 191 http://ibj.pasteur.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-813&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Behnaz Bakaeean 0000-0003-0870-4419 No Department of Biology, Marvdasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Marvdasht, Iran Mehran Gholamin 0000-0002-0123-5755 Yes Department of Laboratory Sciences, School of Paramedical Sciences, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran Seyed Abbas Tabatabaee Yazdi 0000-0002-1423-5359 No Department of Pathology, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran Mohammad Naser Forghani 0000-0002-7399-5905 No Surgical Oncology Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran