ObjectiveTo explore the expressions of survivin, p53, and Ki67 in recurrence or metastasis breast cancer tissue, and explore their correlations and clinical significance. MethodsEighty-six patients with the chest wall local recurrence, axillary or supraclavicular lymph node metastases get treated in this hospital between January 2005 and January 2010 were excised and the expressions of survivin, p53, and Ki67 were detected by immunohistochemistry test, then compared them between the recurrence and metastasis breast cancer tissues and the primary breast cancer tissues. ResultsThe positive expression rate of survivin, p53, and Ki67 in the recurrence and metastasis breast cancer tissues were significantly higher than those in the primary breast cancer tissues, survivin: 90.70% (78/86) versus 61.63% (53/86), χ2=20.014 895, Plt;0.001; p53: 68.60% (59/86) versus 52.33% (45/86), χ2=4.766 968, Plt;0.05; Ki67: 62.79% (54/86) versus 46.51% (40/86), χ2=4.597 927，Plt;0.05. The positive expression rates of survivin in the recurrence and metastasis patients with p53, Ki67 negative expression were significantly higher than those of the primary breast cancer tissue (70.37% versus 24.39%, χ2=14.071 113, Plt;0.05; 75.00% versus 39.13%, χ2=6.540 373, Plt;0.05). The correlation coefficient of survivin with p53 and Ki67 positive expressions in the recurrence and metastasis breast cancer tissue and the primary breast cancer tissue were 0.876 214, 0.773 643 and 0.725 164, 0.698 112, respectively, Plt;0.05. ConclusionThe positive expression rates of survivin, p53, and Ki67 which increase in recurrence and metastasis breast cancer tissue indicate bad prognosis.