Recently, it has been reported that the expression of SLC31A1 increases in several tumours, including prostate, colorectal, breast cancer and melanoma.10, 11, 30, 31 Lowering the expression of SLC31A1 could inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells,9, 10, 12 which is consistent with our results. Here, SLC31A1 is linked to breast carcinoma.