PARP-1 plays an important role in DNA damage repair and maintaining genome integrity by repairing DNA single-strand breaks (SSBs) by base excision repair (BER). The aim of the present study was to examine the expression of PARP-1 in breast cancer (BC) patients and to assess the relationship between the subcellular localization of this protein and clinicopathological characteristics. The reactivity of PARP-1 was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in a homogeneous group of 83 stage II ductal BC patients with a 15-year follow-up. Immunostaining of PARP-1 was also evaluated in 4 human BC cell lines and resistance prediction profile for 11 anticancer agents was performed using 3 models of drug-resistant cell lines. Nuclear-cytoplasmic expression (NCE) was associated with shorter overall survival, which was not statistically significant during the 10-year follow-up but became statistically significant after 10 years of observation, during the 15-year follow-up (P=0.015). Analysis performed in subgroups of patients with (N+) and without (N-) nodal metastases showed that NCE was associated with poor clinical outcome in N- patients (P=0.017). Multivariate analysis confirmed a significant impact of NCE on unfavorable prognosis in N- early BC. The presence of PARP-1 NCE may be a new potential unfavorable prognostic factor in lymph node- negative early BC.