We found that the ATF3 expression was markedly increased in breast cancer tissues compared to adjacent normal breast tissues (P<0.01), and ATF3 expression correlated with TNM stage, invasion, lymph node metastasis and number of metastatic lymph nodes (P=0.038, P=0.029, P=0.026, and P=0.039, respectively). The gene discussed is ATF3; the disease is breast carcinoma.