Non-small cell lung cancer with EML4-ALK positive expression: a clinicopathological analysis of 72 cases / 临床与实验病理学杂志

ABSTRACT

Purpose To investigate the frequency of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and its correlation with the clinicopathologic features.Methods 1 047 cases of non-small cell lung cancer diagnosed by pathological examination were enrolled in this study.The status of ALK was detected by Ventana anti ALK reagent and IHC staining,and the clinical characteristics and pathological features of ALK gene were analyzed.Results Among 1 047 patients with non-small cell lung cancer,there are 72 cases with positive ALK (6.88％).These cases included 70 cases of adenocrcinoms and 2 adenosquamous carcinomas,with 40 males and 32 females,or 37 smokers and 35 non-smokers.The median age was 56 years and the mean age was 55.60 years.Histopathologically,43 cases were solid predominant adnocarcinomas,16 cases were acinar predominant adenocarcinomas,and 13 cases were papillary predominant adenocarcinomas.None were lepidic predominant adenocarcinomas.Conclusion ALK gene fusion lung cancer is a new molecular subtype of nonsmall cell lung cancer.It has unique clinical feature and pathological morphology.Ventana anti ALK reagent and IHC staining method are the first choice for the test of ALK positive non-small cell lung cancer,which has important significance to improve the detection rate and individual treatment for this type of lung cancer.