Malignant pleural mesothelioma with an EML4-ALK fusion: Expect the unexpected!

Case report of malignant pleural mesothelioma with an ALK gene rearrangement, detected by FISH and confirmed by RNA-based next-generation sequencing. The co-occurrence of ALK gene fusions with the more common genetic alterations in CDKN2A, NF2 and BAP1 has, to our best knowledge, not yet been described in malignant mesothelioma. Furthermore, this unexpected finding could suggest a potential target for therapy in this subset of malignant mesotheliomas. READ ARTICLE

Pathology - Research and Practice DOI:10.1016/j.prp.2022.153772

Authors: Fleur Cordier, Joni Van der Meulen, Nadinevan Roy, Jilke De Wilde, Herwigvan Dijck, Filip Vanhoenacker, Marc Lambrechts, Valentin Noyez, Koen Van de Vijver, Liesbeth Ferdinande, Amélie Dendooven, Jo Van Dorpe, David Creytens

Case StudyKirk SmithMarch 1, 2022Pleural mesothelioma, ALK fusion, Immunohistochemistry, Molecular techniques, Copy-number variation sequencing, Next-generation sequencing (ngs)

One-Step Polymerase Chain Reaction-Free Nanowire-Based Plasma Cell-Free DNA Assay to Detect EML4-ALK Fusion and to Monitor Resistance in Lung Cancer

Background: Next-generation sequencing has mostly been used for genotyping cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in plasma. However, this assay has several clinical limitations. We evaluated the clinical utility of a novel polymerase chain reaction–free nanowire (NW)-based plasma cfDNA assay for detecting ALK fusion and mutations. Conclusion: The newly developed simple NW-based cfDNA assay may be clinically applicable for rapid diagnosis of ALK fusion with its variant forms and early detection of resistance. READ ARTICLE

The Oncologist DOI:10.1002/onco.13902

Authors: Youngjoo Lee, Youngnam Cho, Eun Young Park, Seong-Yun Park, Kum Hui Hwang, Ji-Youn Han

Pre-ClinicalKirk SmithAugust 2, 2021Pleural mesothelioma, ALK fusion, Immunohistochemistry, Molecular techniques, Plasma, Circulating tumor DNA, Nanowire, Lung cancer, EML4-ALK