We studied tau and excision repair cross-complementing 1 expression to evaluate their predictive values in advanced breast carcinoma patients. Patients treated with paclitaxel and cisplatin as the first-line chemotherapy for locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer were enrolled. The expression levels of tau and excision repair cross- complementing 1 were assessed by immunohistochemistry and examined for their associations with treatment response and survival. Fifty-four patients were included in this study. Despite the strong association between tau expression and lower histological grade and estrogen receptor expression, tau expression remained an independent predictor for a lower response rate in multivariate analysis (odd ratio = 0.24, P = 0.02). However, tau expression was a predictor for longer overall survival in both univariate analysis (median, 57.5 vs. 30.4 months, P = 0.02) and multivariate analysis (hazard ratio = 0.36, P = 0.008). Excision repair cross- complementing 1 was not associated with treatment response or overall survival. Tau expression but not excision repair cross- complementing 1 in advanced breast cancer predicts poor response to combination chemotherapy of paclitaxel and cisplatin. However, tau expression is significantly associated with longer overall survival. ; 附設醫院腫瘤醫學部 ; 醫學院附設醫院 ; 期刊論文