We attempted to identify proteins associated with the effectiveness of postoperative uracil–tegafur chemotherapy and the favourable prognosis of stage I adenocarcinoma, and detected two kinds of protein molecules (myosin IIA and vimentin) showing significantly high expression in the group that suffered recurrence despite administration of uracil–tegafur, in comparison with the other groups. The gene discussed is VIM; the disease is adenocarcinoma.