ALK positive lung cancer is a primary malignantlung tumor whose cells contain a characteristic abnormal configuration of DNA wherein, most frequently, the echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4) gene is fused to the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene. Less frequently, there will be novel translocation partners for the ALK gene, in place of EML4.[1] This abnormal gene fusion leads to the production of a protein that appears, in many cases, to promote and maintain the malignant behavior of the cancer cells.[2]
The transforming EML4-ALK fusion gene was first reported in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) in 2007.[3]
^Iyevleva, Aglaya G.; Raskin, Grigory A.; Tiurin, Vladislav I.; Sokolenko, Anna P.; Mitiushkina, Natalia V.; Aleksakhina, Svetlana N.; Gariullina, Aigul R.; Strelkova, Tatiana N.; Merkulov, Valery O.; Ivantsov, Alexandr O.; Kuligina, Ekatherina Sh.; Pozharisski, Kazimir M.; Togo, Alexandr V.; Imyanitov, Evgeny N. (28 June 2015). "Novel ALK fusion partners in lung cancer". Cancer Letters. 362 (1): 116–121. doi:10.1016/j.canlet.2015.03.028. PMID25813404 – via Science Direct.