High caspase-3/high calpain-1, high caspase-3/high calpain-2 and high caspase-3/low calpastatin expression significantly associated with adverse breast cancer-specific survival in the total patient cohort; and combinational caspase-3/calpain-1 has important prognostic value in basal-like patients. This evidence concerns the gene CAPN1 and breast carcinoma.