Furthermore, dual activation of ALK and bypass signaling was more frequently found in the multi-TKIs group (5/17, 29%) in contrast to crizotinib-alone (2/35, 6%) (P = 0.031).
We performed a multi-institutional study to identify prognostic factors and determine outcomes for patients with ALK-rearranged non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and brain metastasis.
Our results suggest that the ALK RGQ RT-PCR test could be useful in clinical practice as a complementary assay in multi-test diagnostic algorithms or even, if our data will be confirmed in independent studies, as a standalone or screening test for the selection of patients to be treated with ALK inhibitors.