Vital epithelial cells (10–12) from 20 breast cancer patients before and after surgery stained with membrane EpCAM and excluding PI as an avitality marker were selected individually, deposited one by one, and analysed for the mRNA expression of EpCAM, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)/neu, vimentin, and NANOG (homeobox protein), and the two housekeeping genes Gremlin and RPL 13 A. In 20/20 cases, cells showed increased expression after surgery as compared to before surgery. The gene discussed is VIM; the disease is breast cancer.