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. 2007 Aug 2;448(7153):561-6.
doi: 10.1038/nature05945. Epub 2007 Jul 11.

Identification of the transforming EML4-ALK fusion gene in non-small-cell lung cancer

Manabu Soda  1 , Young Lim Choi, Munehiro Enomoto, Shuji Takada, Yoshihiro Yamashita, Shunpei Ishikawa, Shin-ichiro Fujiwara, Hideki Watanabe, Kentaro Kurashina, Hisashi Hatanaka, Masashi Bando, Shoji Ohno, Yuichi Ishikawa, Hiroyuki Aburatani, Toshiro Niki, Yasunori Sohara, Yukihiko Sugiyama, Hiroyuki Mano
Affiliations

Identification of the transforming EML4-ALK fusion gene in non-small-cell lung cancer

Manabu Soda et al. Nature. .

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.

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