Research Article
Predictive and Prognostic Value of ALK Gene Rearrangement in Non- Small Cell Lung Cancer
Kimary Kulig1, Yi Wang2,4, Shrividya Iyer3 and Ping Yang4*
1 Molecular Epidemiology Research, Pfizer Oncology, New York, NY, USA
2 Division of Preventive Medicine, School of Environmental Science and Public Health, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China
3 Department of Global Health Economics and Outcomes Research, Pfizer, Inc., New York, NY, USA
4 Division of Epidemiology, Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
- Corresponding Author:
- Ping Yang
Division of Epidemiology
Department of Health Sciences Research
Mayo Clinic, College of Medicine, 200 First Street SW
Rochester, MN 55905, USA
Tel: +1 5072665369
E-mail: [email protected]
Received Date: December 03, 2013; Accepted Date: January 26, 2014; Published Date: January 28, 2014
Citation: Kulig K, Wang Y, Iyer S, Yang P (2014) Predictive and Prognostic Value of ALK Gene Rearrangement in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Epidemiol 4:146. doi:10.4172/2161-1165.1000146
Copyright: © 2014 Kulig K, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) is a relatively new as an oncogenic driver and a therapeutic target in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC); the prognostic and predictive implications of ALK-positivity in NSCLC is far from clear and no large-scale studies have been reported to date. In the current review, we summarize published data examining the variation in prognostic and predictive effect of ALK-positivity on clinical outcomes in NSCLC patients, based on the extent of control of or adjustment for known confounding factors such as smoking status, disease stage, and age by study design or analyses. ALK rearrangement in NSCLC did not appear to be predictive of improved outcomes with chemotherapy but was predictive of poor response to EGFR TKI therapy. Overall, ALK rearrangement was found to be a negative prognostic factor in NSCLC in studies controlling for known confounding factors. In addition to highlighting the importance of controlling for confounding factors in retrospective studies evaluating outcomes, our review also summarizes evidence of an unmet need in terms of poor response amongst ALK-positive NSCLC patients to standard therapies that do not target ALK.
