Objective:To investigate the potential role of Class Ⅲ β-tubulin,Microtubule-associated protein tau(MAPT) and inhibitor-of-apoptosis protein survivin serving as biomarkers for paclitaxel sensitivity in primary gastric cancer. Methods: Viable tumor cells obtained from the samples of fifty-four patients with gastric carcinoma were tested for their sensitivity to paclitaxel using ATP-based tumor chemosensitivity assay(ATP-TCA). Reverse transcription-PCR was used to analysis the mRNA level of related genes expression. Results:Class Ⅲ β-tubulin mRNA level was negatively correlated with the sensitivity to paclitaxel (r = -0.372,P = 0.006), but related to histological differentiation(P = 0.029). MAPT mRNA level is negatively correlated with the sensitivity to paclitaxel(r = -0.292,P = 0.032). Survivin mRNA level was also negatively correlated with the sensitivity to paclitaxel(r = -0.340,P = 0.012),but related to histological differentiation(P = 0.009). Significant relationship was found between Class IIIβ-tubulin and MAPT or survivin expression, respectively(P = 0.037 or P = 0.000). Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that the mRNA expression levels of Class Ⅲ β-tubulin, MAPT and survivin in gastric cancer might be of good value in predicting the sensitivity to paclitaxel.