Methods for identifying chemotherapeutic resistance in non-hematopoietic tumors

A method of treating or alleviating the symptoms of an adriamycin-resistant non-hematological cancer in a patient comprising, administering to the patient a therapeutically effective amount of an agent that inhibits p16.

A therapeutic composition, comprising:

• a) an agent that inhibits p16;
• and
• b) a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

A method of treating a non-hematological cancer in a cancer patient so as to increase the likelihood of efficacy of a chemotherapeutic agent comprising:

• a) detecting adriamycin resistance in a cancer cell from the cancer patient, wherein adriamycin resistance is detected when the level of p16 expression in the the cancer cell from the cancer patient is greater than the level of p16 expression in a nonresistant cancer cell of the same tissue or cell type;
• and
• b) administering to the cancer patient a therapeutically effective amount of an agent that inhibits p16.