The second-generation ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitor brigatinib has recently been approved in the European Union for use after crizotinib treatment in patients with EML4-ALK-rearranged lung cancer.
The discovery of the EML4-ALK fusion kinase in 2007 was a breakthrough for this situation, and kinase fusion genes now form a group of relevant targetable oncogenes in lung cancer.
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.
This study aimed to determine the effect of bigeminal inhibition of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) and angiogenesis on human insulin growth factor 1 receptor (hIGF-1)-triggered drug resistance in echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (EML4-ALK)-positive lung cancer.
To investigate the correlation between echinodermmicro tubule associated protein-like 4 (EML4)-anaplasticlymphomakinase (ALK), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and clinicopathological features in patients diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma according to International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer/American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society (IASLC/ATS/ERS) international multidisciplinary classification of lung adenocarcinoma.Ninety patients diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma underwent surgical pathological classification.
Identification of circulating tumor cells with EML4-ALK translocation using fluorescence <i>in situ</i> hybridization in advanced ALK-positive patients with lung cancer.
Patients with Echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4)-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) positive lung cancer are sensitive to ALK-kinase inhibitors.
Over 80% of all lung cancer cases are non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and approximately 5% of NSCLC patients are positive for anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene rearrangement or fusion with echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4).
Patients with lung cancer who show EML4-ALK translocation are routinely treated with ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitors, although in the majority of cases, these patients develop resistance over time.
The molecular target drugs for lung cancer with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene translocation (the fusion gene, EML4-ALK) was approved, and those targeting lung cancers addicted ROS1, RET, and HER2 have been under development.
Expanded Circulating Tumor Cells from a Patient with ALK-Positive Lung Cancer Present with EML4-ALK Rearrangement Along with Resistance Mutation and Enable Drug Sensitivity Testing: A Case Study.
Echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (EML4-ALK)-positive lung cancer presenting with Ground-glass nodules (GGNs) is relatively rare, and few such cases have been reported.
We identified patient-specific genetic alterations in candidate driving genes: RASA2 and NF1 (prostate cancer), TP53 and CDKN2C (olfactory neuroblastoma), FAT1, NOTCH1, and SMAD4 (head and neck cancer), KRAS (urachal carcinoma), EML4-ALK (lung cancer), and MDM2 and PTEN (liposarcoma).
The FISH-based method of detecting EML4-ALK rearrangement in lung cancer may miss a significant number of patients who could benefit from targeted ALK therapy.
Using cell line-based assays, the secretion of erythroblastic leukemia viral oncogene homologue (ERBB) ligands has been reported to contribute to resistance against crizotinib in lung cancer with the echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 and anaplastic lymphoma kinase fusion gene.
Our in vivo imaging models of multiple organ sites may provide useful resources to analyze further the pathogenesis of EML4-ALK lung cancer and its response and resistance to ALK inhibitors in various organ microenvironments.
Examples of these molecularly targeted biomarker therapies are: tyrosine kinase inhibitors in chronic myeloid leukemia and gastrointestinal tumors; anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitors in lung cancer with EML4-ALk fusion; HER2/neu blockage in HER2/neu-positive breast cancer; and epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) inhibition in EGFR-mutated lung cancer.
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.