This study aimed at examining whether βIII-tubulin (TUBB3), present in various types of normal tissues and cancer, is a biomarker for the response of colorectal neoplasms to paclitaxel.
Class III beta-tubulin (TUBB3) expression is recognized as a predictive marker for chemosensitivity to cisplatin- and taxane-based chemotherapies in various malignancies.
TUBB3 positivity was not associated with the International Union Against Cancer classification, World Health Organization grading, lymph node involvement or distant metastasis in any entity.
Strong TUBB3 staining was found in 43% of urothelial cancers harboring copy number alterations as compared with 28% of genetically stable cancers, and in 50% of p53-positive cancers as compared with 30% of p53-negative tumors.
Expression of class III β-tubulin (βIII-tubulin) correlates with tumor progression and resistance to taxane-based therapies for several human malignancies, but its use as a biomarker of tumor behavior in prostate cancer (PCa) remains largely unexplored.
Aberrant expression of class III beta-tubulin, TUBB3, has been reported to be one of the important mechanisms responsible for taxane resistance in diverse human malignancies.
In contrast, the expression of class III beta-tubulin in gliomas is associated with an ascending grade of histologic malignancy and with correspondingly high proliferative indices.