Expression of β-tubulin III and survivin in advance stage breast cancer correlates with chemotherapeutic effects of docetaxel.

To investigate the relationship between the expression of β-tubulin III and survivin in advanced breast cancers and chemotherapeutic effects of docetaxel. Clinical pathological data of 74 patients with advanced breast cancer were retrospectively analyzed after docetaxel chemotherapy. Expression of β-tubulin III and survivin was assessed by immunohistochemistry and analyzed with reference to therapeutical and adverse effects of docetaxel. The positive expression rate of β-tubulin III was 38.1% (32/84), while that of survivin was 76.2% (64/84). The effective rate (complete response + partial response) was 52.4%. That for patients with the positive expression of β-tubulin III or/and survivin was significantly lower than for those with negative expression (P<0.05). There were significant differences in the non-progression of median diseases, 1-year and 2-year survival rates of between the patients with positive and negative expression (P<0.05). The main side effects were myelosuppression, alimentary canal response and alopecia, no differences being observed between groups. The combined detection of β-tubulin III and survivin is a predictive index for chemotherapy effects of docetaxel in metastatic breast cancer.