• Ann. Oncol. · Jan 2015

    Discrepancies between FISH and immunohistochemistry for assessment of the ALK status are associated with ALK 'borderline'-positive rearrangements or a high copy number: a potential major issue for anti-ALK therapeutic strategies.

    • M I Ilie, C Bence, V Hofman, E Long-Mira, C Butori, L Bouhlel, S Lalvée, J Mouroux, M Poudenx, J Otto, C H Marquette, and P Hofman.
    • Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Pathology, Pasteur Hospital, Nice IRCAN Team 3, INSERM U1081/UMR CNRS 7284, Faculty of Medicine of Nice, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, Nice.
    • Ann. Oncol. 2015 Jan 1; 26 (1): 238-44.

    BackgroundPatients with advanced lung adenocarcinomas expressing ALK rearrangements are highly responsive to crizotinib, a dual ALK/c-MET inhibitor. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is an easy clinically and routinely applicable cost-effective assay for ALK, c-MET and ROS1 protein expression for potential treatment with crizotinib. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the percentage and the pattern of ALK-rearranged cells, the variation in the native ALK copy number, as well as ALK, c-MET and ROS1 protein expression, and their significance on outcome of crizotinib-treated lung adenocarcinoma patients.Patients And MethodsConsecutive lung adenocarcinoma specimens (n = 176) 'double-negative' (wild-type EGFR and KRAS) were tested for ALK rearrangements/copy number alterations and for ALK, c-MET and ROS1 protein expression using automated standardized protocols. Preliminary data on the outcome of crizotinib-treated patients were recorded.ResultsFISH analysis identified 26/176 (15%) cases with ALK rearrangements. Seven cases had discordant results between the ALK FISH and IHC. Five cases with discordant FISH-positive/IHC-negative revealed FISH 'borderline' positivity (15%-20%). Three cases overexpressed c-MET and responded to crizotinib, and two cases with ALK-'borderline' rearranged cells only, not associated with c-MET expression, progressed under crizotinib. Two cases with discordant FISH-negative/IHC-positive revealed ALK gene amplification without associated c-MET or ROS1 protein expression.ConclusionsThe discrepancies observed between the IHC and FISH data revealed unexpected biological events, rather than technical issues, which potentially can have a strong impact on the therapeutic strategy with crizotinib.© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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