Objective To investigate the clinicopathological features of basal-like breast carcinoma and its significance. Methods A total of 105 patients with breast carcinoma were enrolled in this study, including 22 cases of luminal type A, 23 of luminal type B, 20 of basal-like, 23 of HER2-enriched and 17 of normal breast-like. The expressions of p53, E-cadherin, matrix metalloproteinase-7(MMP-7), Ki-67 in tumour cells were examined immunohistochemically. The clinicopathological features were analyzed statistically. The follow-up period ranged from 6 to 60 months. Results For the five breast tumor subtypes, sequentially luminal A, luminal B, basal-like, HER2- over-expression, and normal breast-like, the mean age was 54.5, 51.1, 48.8, 52.0 and 56.0 years respectively, and the rate of elderly was 20.0%(5/20) in basal-like tumor; the mean tumor size was 3.4, 3.5, 2.1, 3.0 and 3.5cm respectively; the 5-year tumor-free survival rate was 78.3%(17/22), 73.9%（17/23）, 40.0%（8/20）, 65.2%（15/23） and 70.6%（12/17） respectively, significantly lower in basal-like subtype(P＜0.05); p53 positive expression rate was 22.7%, 26.1%, 60.0%, 56.5% and 23.5% respectively, significantly higher in basal-like and HER2-over-expression subtypes (P＜0.05); E-cadherin positive expression rate was 100.0%, 100.0%, 80.0%, 100.0%, and 100.0% respectively, lower in basal-like subtype(P＜0.05); MMP-7 positive expression rate was 40.9%, 52.2%, 85.0%, 69.6% and 64.7% respectively, higher in basal-like subtype than in luminal A and B subtypes(P＜0.05). Ki-67 index was divided into three levels (＜10%, 10%-30%, ≥30%) . The positivity rate of Ki-67＜10% was 59.1%, 39.1%, 25.0%, 30.4% and 29.4% respectively; that of Ki-67 10%-30% was 36.4%, 52.2%, 40.0%, 52.2% and 58.8% respectively; that of Ki-67≥30% was 4.5%, 8.7%, 35.0%, 17.4% and 11.8% respectively. The basal-like subtype had higher proliferation index in all three levels(P＜0.01). Log-rank analysis suggested that the genotyping was not related to the prognosis of the breast carcinoma(P＞0.05). Conclusions Compared to other subtypes, basal-like breast carcinoma is usually found in younger patients before menopause. The basal-like breast carcinoma has a poor prognosis and high invasion ability and high mutation rate of p53.