Overexpression of ßIII-tubulin and survivin associated with drug resistance to docetaxel-based chemotherapy in advanced gastric cancer.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To study the roles of ßIII-tubulin and survivin in the development of gastric cancer, and see for any relationship between the expression levels of these two genes and docetaxel chemoresistance in advanced gastric cancer. METHODS: Patients with advanced gastric cancer treated with docetaxel-based chemotherapy were enrolled and their tumor samples were collected retrospectively for analysis (study group). The control group consisted of patients with benign gastric mucosa lesions. Expression levels of ßIII-tubulin and survivin were evaluated with immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: The expression levels of ßIII-tubulin and survivin in the study group were significantly higher compared with those in the control group (p<0.01). Spearman's correlation analysis suggested that the expression of ßIII-tubulin was also correlated with that of survivin (p<0.05), but no correlation existed between the expression levels of ßIII-tubulin and survivin with age, gender and pathological tumor type. The complete response (CR) + partial response (PR) rates were 54.10%. Patients with ßIII-tubulin and/or survivin overexpression were less responsive to docetaxel-based therapy (p<0.05) and also had shorter median time to progression and 1- and 2-year survival rates (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Overexpression of ßIII-tubulin and survivin in gastric cancer cells was associated with resistance to docetaxel-based chemotherapy in patients with advanced gastric cancer.