The Journal of Clinical Oncology published a retrospective clinical study conducted by American scholars comparing changes in receptor status of primary and recurrent tumors in more than one thousand patients with recurrent breast cancer. The results found that estrogen and progesterone receptors (ER, PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) had different degrees of receptor status changes during disease progression, with the change rates of 32.4%, 40.7% and 14.5%, respectively; most of ER and PR changed from positive to negative, while HER2 changed in both directions in comparable proportions. In recent years, the diagnosis rate of early-stage breast cancer has increased year by year, and the progress of adjuvant therapy has led to significant improvement in the outcome, but still more than 20% of early-stage breast cancer will eventually progress to advanced breast cancer. In developing treatment plans for advanced breast cancer, we need to refer to certain biomarker status of the tumor, the most important of which are ER, PR and HER2. This study gives us some insight. In fact, it is not difficult to understand this phenomenon of receptor status shift. Firstly, tumor is a heterogeneous disease, and the biological characteristics of tumor may differ in different periods and sites; secondly, the tumor genome is unstable, and changes at the genetic level may occur as the disease progresses; more importantly, treatment may be the main cause of the shift in receptor status. For example, this study found that breast cancer patients who had received endocrine therapy were more likely to change their ER from positive to negative. In addition, the study showed that since a high percentage of breast cancer patients have a change in receptor status upon recurrence, if treatment regimens for recurrent tumors are formulated according to the receptor status of the primary tumor, the outcome and prognosis of recurrent tumors will inevitably be affected. Therefore, in clinical practice, once breast cancer recurs, we should obtain the recurrent tumor tissues as much as possible and re-test the receptor status to adjust the individualized treatment plan for patients in a timely manner.