Abstract: To investigate the anti-tumor immunity conferred by S-100 protein positive dendritic cells ( DCs ) and HLA-DR antigen positive cells in tumor tissue from patients with basal-like breast carcinoma ( BLBC ). Methods: The frequencies of dendritic cells expressing S-100 and HLA-DR antigen positive cells in BLBC tissues were determined using immunohistochemistry. Results: Both S-100+ DCs and HLA-DR antigen positive cells were absent in most patients with BLBC ( 2/22, 9% ) and the total number of DCs ( both S-100+ and S-100- ) was significantly lower in  BLBC patients that in controls ( 138/138, 100% ). The HLA-DR+ cancer cells were observed in significantly fewer BLBC patients ( 4/22, 18.1% ) than in control patients ( 106/138, 76.8% ). Conclusion: The specific anti-tumor immunity brought about by the infiltration of DCs and DR+ carcinoma cells was largely absent in the tumor tissues of BLBC patients, suggesting that the presence of S-100+ DCs and HLA-DR antigen positive cells may be related to postoperative prognosis.