Evaluation of NGS and RT-PCR methods for ALK rearrangement in European NSCLC patients: Results from the ETOP Lungscape Project.

Abstract

The reported prevalence of ALK rearrangement in NSCLC ranges from 2%-7%. The primary standard diagnostic method is fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Recently, immunohistochemistry (IHC) has also proven to be a reproducible and sensitive technique. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has also been advocated and most recently the advent of targeted Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) for ALK and other fusions has become possible. This study compares ALK evaluation with all 4 techniques in resected NSCLC from the large ETOP Lungscape cohort.