Complex ALK Fusions Are Associated With Better Prognosis in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

The objective response rate and median progression-free survival to crizotinib treatment tended to be better in complex ALK fusion patients.
Notably, patients with complex ALK fusions had significantly improved overall survival after crizotinib treatment especially when compared with the pure canonical EML4-ALK fusion group.
The complex ALK fusion group also tended to respond better to next-generation ALK TKIs, which were used as later-line therapies.
Most identified non-canonical ALK fusions were likely to be expressed in tumors, and some of them formed canonical EML4-ALK transcripts during mRNA maturation.
Diagnosis using CGP is of great value to identify novel ALK fusions and predict prognosis. READ ARTICLE

Frontiers in Oncology DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2020.596937

Authors: Jin Kang,Xu-Chao Zhang,Hua-Jun Chen, Wen-Zhao Zhong, Yang Xu, Jian Su, Qing Zhou, Hai-Yan Tu, Zhen Wang, Chong-Rui Xu, Xue-Ning Yang, Zhi-Hong Chen, Xue Wu, Xian Zhang, Yang Shao, Yi-Long Wu, Jin-Ji Yang

Real-World OutcomesKirk SmithDecember 11, 2020ALK, Fusions, TKI, Comprehensive genomic profiling, CGP, non-canonical ALK fusions, RNA-sequencing