However, the pattern of failure and clinical value of radiotherapy in metastatic crizotinib-treated ALK-mutant lung cancer, with or without baseline brain metastases (BBM), are largely unknown.
Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) is correlated with oncogenesis in different types of cancers, such as anaplastic large cell lymphoma, lung cancer, neuroblastoma, and even breast cancer, by abnormal fusion of ALK or non-fusion ALK activation.
In fact, the ALK (D5F3) CDx immunohistochemistry assay was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as a standalone test for <i>ALK</i> rearrangements in lung cancer in 2015.
Recently, anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) has been identified as exerting a potent transforming effect through genetic rearrangement in patients with lung cancer.
These data suggest that overexpression of EGFR ligands such as AREG can cause resistance to crizotinib, and that inhibition of EGFR signaling may be a promising strategy to overcome crizotinib resistance in EML4-ALKlung cancer.
Repeat FISH testing confirmed the presence of ALK gene rearrangement with the discrepancy being attributable to an atypical FISH pattern.Therefore, in our experienced hands, IHC for ALK performed on initial diagnosis of lung cancer is 100% specific for the presence of ALK gene rearrangement.
Updated Efficacy and Safety Data and Impact of the EML4-ALK Fusion Variant on the Efficacy of Alectinib in Untreated ALK-Positive Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer in the Global Phase III ALEX Study.
Anaplastic lymphoma kinase 5A4 immunohistochemistry as a diagnostic assay in lung cancer: A Canadian reference testing center's results in population-based reflex testing.
Surprisingly, approximately 4 years after the discovery of ALK rearrangement in lung cancer, the first-in-class ALK inhibitor (ALKi), crizotinib, was approved for metastatic ALK-rearranged NSCLC by the US Food and Drug Administration.
This study validates a newly developed ALK CISH assay by comparing FISH and CISH signal patterns in lung cancer samples with and without ALK rearrangements.
Although there is a possibility that the left lung cancer is de novo one with multiple metastases, detection of the same fusion gene of the very rare EML4-ALK variant 1 in both tumors suggests that the left cancer is a recurrence of the right lung cancer after an interval of 15 years.
These results show that the cytomorphological features of signet ring cells, nuclear grooves and nucleoli shape can help to triage a small amount of cytological and biopsy specimens for appropriate molecular testing of primary ALK (+) lung cancer.
Since then, a number of novel, small-molecule inhibitors directed against the ALK receptor have demonstrated superiority over standard chemotherapies in the treatment of ALK rearrangement-positive lung cancer.