Objective:Thirteen urinary nucleosides,primarily degradation products of tRNA,were evaluated as potential tumor markers for breast cancer patients.Design and methods: The micellar electrokinetic chromatography(MEKC)method has been used to analyze the urinary nucleosides in 41 healthy controls,20 patients with benign breast tumors,and 26 breast cancer patients.Results: Urinary nucleoside concentrations of breast cancer patients were found to increase significantly compared to those of patients with benign breast tumors and healthy controls.By using 13 nucleoside concentrations as data vectors for principal component analysis (PCA), 73% (19/26) of breast cancer patients were correctly identified from healthy controls,while only 20% (4/20) of patients with benign breast tumors were indistinguishable from breast cancer patients. The mean level of all forms of urinary nucleosides in patients with metastatic breast cancer was higher than that in patients with primary breast cancer.The levels of modified nucleosides tended to decrease and return to normal after surgery.Conclusion: The results indicate that urinary nucleosides may be useful as tumor markers for breast cancer.