Gao et al. BMC Cancer 2011, 11:177 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/11/177 Page 7 of 8 Figure 4 PFS and OS curves for TP negative & TUBB3 positive and TP positive & TUBB3 negative patients receiving capecitabine plus paclitaxel. prospective to be used to predict the response and sur- vival of capecitabine and paclitaxel. To summarize our results, our findings demonstrate it’s possible that overexpression of TUBB3 is the major reason of paclitaxel resistance in gastric cancer, and positive TP & negative TUBB3 expressions might pre- dict response and prognosis to capecitabine plus pacli- taxel chemotherapy in AGC. Conclusions Our findings suggested that, in Chinese advanced gastric cancer, TP positive & TUBB3 negative expressions might predict response and prognosis to capecitabine plus paclitaxel chemotherapy. Further prospective eva- luation in large samples should be performed to confirm these preliminary results. Acknowledgements This work was supported by National High Technology Research and Development Program of China, Grant number: 2006AA02A402. The authors thank Dr. Bin Dong (Peking University School of Oncology, Beijing Cancer Hospital & Institute) for IHC analysis and Dr. Ji-ping Yue (Infections and Cancer Biology Group, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France) for critical reading of the manuscript. Authors’ contributions Jing Gao and Ming Lu contributed equally to this work; Jing Gao, Ming Lu and Yan-yan Li performed the experiments; Jing Gao wrote the manuscript; Jing-wei Yu performed the statistical analysis; Lin Shen designed the experiments and revised the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript. Declaration of competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Received: 22 December 2010 Accepted: 18 May 2011 Published: 18 May 2011 References 1. Ferlay J, Shin HR, Bray F, Forman D, Mathers C, Parkin DM: Estimates of worldwide burden of cancer in 2008: GLOBOCAN 2008. Int J Cancer 2010, 127:2893-2917. 2. Sun XD, Mu R, Zhou YS, Dai XD, Zhang SW, Huangfu XM, Sun J, Li LD, Lu FZ, Qiao YL: Analysis of mortality rate of stomach cancer and its trend in twenty years in China. Chin J Oncol 2004, 26:4-9. 3. Murad AM, Santiago FF, Petroianu A, Rocha PRS, Rodrigues MAG: Modified therapy with 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin, and methotrexate in advanced gastric cancer. Cancer 1993, 72:37-41. 4. Pyrhonen S, Kuitunen T, Nyandoto P, Kouri M: Randomised comparison of fluorouracil, epidoxorubicin and methotrexate (FEMTX) plus supportive care with supportive care alone in patients with non-resectable gastric cancer. Br J Cancer 1995, 71:587-591. 5. Glimelius B, Ekstrom K, Hoffman K, Graf W, Sjoden PO, Haglund U, Svensson C, Enander LK, Linne T, Sellstrom H, Heuman R: Randomized comparison between chemotherapy plus best supportive care with best supportive care in advanced gastric cancer. Ann Oncol 1997, 8:163-168. 6. Thuss-Patience PC, Kretzschmar A, Deist T, Hinke A, Bichev D, Lebedinzew B, Schumacher G, Gebauer B, Maier V, Reichardt P: Irinotecan versus best supportive care (BSC) as second-line therapy in gastric cancer: A randomized phase III study fo the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie (AIO). J Clin Oncol 2009, 27:15s, abstr 4540. 7. Ichikawa W: Prediction of clinical outcome of fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy for gastric cancer patients, in terms of the 5-fluorouracil metabolic pathway. Gastric cancer 2006, 9:145-155. 8. Han JY, Hong EK, Lee SY, Yoon SM, Lee DH, Lee JS: Thymidine phosphorylase expression in tumour cells and tumour response to capecitabine plus docetaxel chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer. J Clin Pathol 2005, 58:650-654. 9. Uchida K, Danenberg PV, Danenberg KD, Grem JL: Thymidylate synthase, Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase, ERCC1, and thymidine phosphorylase gene expression in primary and metastatic gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma tissue in patients treated on a phase I trial of oxaliplatin and capecitabine. BMC Cancer 2008, 8:386-395. 10. Andreetta C, Puppin C, Minisini A, Valent F, Pegolo E, Damante G, Di Loreto C, Pizzolitto S, Pandolfi M, Fasola G, Piga A, Puglisi F: Thymidine