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- Title
Identification of the transforming EML4–ALK fusion gene in non-small-cell lung cancer.
- Authors
Soda, Manabu; Young Lim Choi; Enomoto, Munehiro; Takada, Shuji; Yamashita, Yoshihiro; Ishikawa, Shunpei; Fujiwara, Shin-Ichiro; Watanabe, Hideki; Kurashina, Kentaro; Hatanaka, Hisashi; Bando, Masashi; Ohno, Shoji; Ishikawa, Yuichi; Aburatani, Hiroyuki; Niki, Toshiro; Sohara, Yasunori; Sugiyama, Yukihiko; Mano, Hiroyuki
- Abstract
Improvement in the clinical outcome of lung cancer is likely to be achieved by identification of the molecular events that underlie its pathogenesis. Here we show that a small inversion within chromosome 2p results in the formation of a fusion gene comprising portions of the echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4) gene and the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells. Mouse 3T3 fibroblasts forced to express this human fusion tyrosine kinase generated transformed foci in culture and subcutaneous tumours in nude mice. The EML4–ALK fusion transcript was detected in 6.7% (5 out of 75) of NSCLC patients examined; these individuals were distinct from those harbouring mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor gene. Our data demonstrate that a subset of NSCLC patients may express a transforming fusion kinase that is a promising candidate for a therapeutic target as well as for a diagnostic molecular marker in NSCLC.
- Subjects
GENE fusion; LUNG cancer; MOLECULAR structure; CARCINOGENESIS; CHROMOSOME analysis; BIOMARKERS; GROWTH factors; TRANSFORMING growth factors; CELL receptors
- Publication
Nature, 2007, Vol 448, Issue 7153, p561
- ISSN
0028-0836
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/nature05945