Aneuploidy and chromosomal instability (CIN) are common features of gastric cancer (GC), but their contribution to carcinogenesis and antitumour therapy response is still poorly understood. Failures in the mitotic checkpoint induced by changes in expression levels of the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) proteins cause the missegregation of chromosomes in mitosis as well as aneuploidy. To evaluate the possible contribution of SAC to GC, we analyzed the expression levels of proteins of the mitotic checkpoint complex in a cohort of GC cell lines. We found that the central SAC proteins, Mad2 and BubR1, were the more prominently expressed members in disseminated GC cell lines. Silencing of Mad2 and BubR1 in MKN45 and ST2957 cells decreased their cell proliferation, migration and invasion abilities, indicating that Mad2 and BubR1 could contribute to cellular transformation and tumor progression in GC. We next evaluated whether silencing of SAC proteins could affect the response to microtubule poisons. We discovered that paclitaxel treatment increased cell survival in MKN45 cells interfered for Mad2 or BubR1 expression. However, apoptosis (assessed by caspase-3 activation, PARP proteolysis and levels of antiapoptotic Bcl 2-family members), the DNA damage response (assessed by H2Ax phosphorylation) and exit from mitosis (assessed by Cyclin B degradation and Cdk1 regulation) were activated equally between cells, independently of Mad2 or BubR1-protein levels. In contrast, we observed that the silencing of Mad2 or BubR1 in MKN45 cells showed the induction of a senescence-like phenotype accompanied by cell enlargement, increased senescence-associated β -galactosidase activity and increased IL-6 and IL-8 expression. In addition, the senescent phenotype is highly increased after treatment with PTX, indicating that senescence could prevent tumorigenesis in GC. In conclusion, the results presented here suggest that Mad2 and BubR1 could be used as prognostic markers of tumor progression and new pharmacological targets in the treatment for GC. ©2014 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.