Background p73, a homologue of p53, has been located at chromosome 1 p36-33, a region of frequently observed loss of heterozygosity in breast cancers. The objective of the present study was to investigate the function of p73 in Japanese with breast cancers.Methods Sixty Japanese patients with breast cancer were assessed by polymerase chain reaction single strand confirmation polymorphism analysis and direct sequencing to detect the p73 allele. p73 mRNA levels were also determined in 40 out of 60 patients by reverse-transcriptional polymerase chain reaction.Results We analyzed the entire open reading frame of the p73 gene by polymerase chain reaction single strand confirmation polymorphism and sequencing, and failed to identify any mutations of p73 in the encoding regions detected.Loss of heterozygosity of p73 was infrequent and only found in 9% of breast carcinomas. We revealed a few polymorphisms with a frequency of 13%-29%, which had been reported previously. Down-regulation of p73 mRNA expression was observed in tumor tissues in comparison to the normal breast tissues. A significant inverse correlation was found between p73 transcripts and high histological grade, suggesting that down-regulated p73 expression could be related to poor prognosis in those patients.Conclusion Our results suggest that p73 may serve as a tumor suppressor gene and its expression plays a role in tumorigenesis in Japanese patients with breast cancer.