The aim of this research is to investigate the significance of clusterin (CLU) expression as a risk factor for breast cancer through tissue microarray technology and univariate analysis of overall survival. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues from 158 cases of breast cancer and 31 cases of normal adjacent tissues assembled into a tissue microarray. Cytoplasmic CLU expression in tumor tissues was measured by immunochemistry. Survival analysis was used to investigate the relationship between CLU expression and prognosis, tumor volume, pathological classification, and recurrence. Survival time of patients with CLU expression, lymph node metastasis, and limited post-surgery chemotherapy (<6 cycles of treatment) was significantly shorter than that of patients with no detectable CLU expression (P=0.000), without lymph node metastasis (P=0.000) and more comprehensive post-surgery chemotherapy (>/=6 cycles of treatment) (P=0.035). CLU expression in tumor cells was higher than in normal adjacent breast epithelial cells (P=0.03). The CLU expression staining coefficient of cancer tissues with lymph node metastasis was higher than those without lymph node metastasis (P=0.000). Cytoplasmic CLU expression was found to be a prognostic factor for human breast cancer.