Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor in women worldwide, and accounts for an estimated 29% of new cases and 15% of cancer-associated mortalities each year. Invasive ductal carcinoma represents 70-80% of all breast cancer cases, which are responsible for the majority of breast cancer fatalities. Though great progress has been made in understanding the tumorigenesis and development of breast cancer, problems surrounding treatment persist. It was previously reported that carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) may be closely associated with chemotherapy resistance. In the present study, primary-cultured CAFs from surgically resected breast invasive ductal cancer tissues were prepared and tested to clarify the change of gene expression profile following treatment with 20 ng/ml Taxotere (R) for 24 h through microarray analysis. In addition, quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting were performed to compare the gene and protein expression of the candidate gene in CAFs prior to and following Taxotere treatment. Based on the obtained data, 35 differentially expressed genes were identified, including ACTA2, ACTC1, ACTG, ALDH1B1, AMY1A, C5orf13, CNN1, CXCR7, DDAH1, FGF1, PDLIM3, MAMLD1, MYH11, OXTR, PDLIM5, RARRES1, SERPINA3, TRIL, C14orf43, C1orf51, CXCL12, CXCL2, EGR2, EGR3, IER3, interleukin (IL) 8, IRF1, JUNB, MMP1, NAV2, NFKBIA, NFKBIZ, TRIB1, WNT16 and ZC3H12A. It was observed that the expression of the candidate gene IL8 in the CAFs of breast invasive cancer following treatment with Taxotere was increased (P < 0.05). Overall, elevated expression of IL8 induced by Taxotere in CAFs potentially supports the association between IL8 and chemotherapy response.