There is a discordance in the immunohistochemical markers between primary breast cancer and recurrent or metastatic breast cancer. This study aimed to assess the recent trends and prognostic features in the treatment of recurrent or metastatic breast cancerOverall, 107 patients were identified from January 2001 to August 2018 at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, and People's Republic of China to obtain a cohort of breast carcinoma patients who were confirmed to have recurrent or metastatic breast cancer by histopathology. We evaluated patient and tumor characteristics and examined the relationships between these factors and prognosis.The estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) positivity, and Ki67 index in primary breast cancer were 63.6% (68/107), 58.9% (63/107), 19.8% (21/106) and 75.8% (75/99), respectively, while those in recurrent or metastatic lesions were 60.6% (65/107) (P = .672), 46.7% (50/107) (P = 0.013), 23.8% (25/105) (P = 0.482)and 83.5%(81/97)(P = 0.178), respectively. The discordance rate of HER2 expression was 10.6% (11/104), while that of PR expression was 23.3% (21/90). HER2 was the most stable biomarker. The discordance rates for luminal A and HER2 were as high as 100% and 25%, respectively, while the luminal B and triple negative values were as low as 8.3% and 5.3%, respectively.ER and PR positivity and the Ki-67 index tended to increase due to recurrence or metastases; however, the discordance for PR and Ki-67 was high. PR is more variable than ER in the expression of primary and recurrent or metastatic breast cancer. The expression of HER2 receptor was the most stable and the discordance rate of triple negative breast cancer was the lowest. Therefore, although changes in biomarkers are due to recurrence or metastasis, pathological confirmation and exploration of markers are very important.