Recent studies have discovered that CXCR4 is associated with tumor metastasis. It is worth understanding the association between CXCR4 expression and axillary lymph node involvement in early breast cancer. Eighty-five patients with early breast cancers were divided into three groups based on their axillary lymph node status. CXCR4 expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry in all cases and its correlation with axillary lymph node involvement was evaluated. There was a significant difference in nuclear CXCR4 expression among these three groups and high nuclear expression of CXCR4 was associated with cases with no lymph node involvement. However, high cytoplasmic expression of CXCR4 was associated with patients who developed high-level axillary lymph node involvement. In conclusion, the different staining locations of CXCR4 have varying biological significance for the metastatic potential of axillary lymph nodes. In particular, it provided information that high cytoplasmic expression of CXCR4 was related to axillary internodal metastasis, and adjuvant radio-chemotherapy was suggested.