Anaplastic lymphoma kinase rearrangement may increase the incidence of venous thromboembolism by increasing tissue factor expression in advanced lung adenocarcinoma

Background Patients with lung cancer are at an increased risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE). Approximately 8–15% of patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) experience a VTE throughout the course of the disease. However, the incidence of VTE in different NSCLC molecular subtypes is rarely reported, although there are significant differences in clinical feature and prognosis. Tissue factor (TF) expressed in many solid tumors could trigger the downstream coagulation cascade and lead to thrombin generation and clot formation. Results: At a median follow up of 2.5 years, 5.85% (n=30/513) patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma experienced VTE. Compared to patients with EGFR mutation (n=11/218, 5.05%) or both negative (n=13/266, 4.89%), patients with ALK-rearrangement were more likely to develop VTE (n=6/29, 20.69%; P=0.006, P=0.004; respectively). In ALK-rearrangement-positive tissues, 41.67% (n=10/24) had a high TF protein expression; the incidence was significantly..... READ ARTICLE

Annals of Translational Medicine DOI:10.21037/atm-20-6619

Authors: Yang S, Yang L, Wu Y, Zhang C, Wang S, Ma N, Wang L, Wang