Clinical utility of liquid biopsy for the diagnosis and monitoring of EML4-ALK NSCLC patients

Abstract

Genomic rearrangement in anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene occurs in 3−7% of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The detection of this alteration is crucial as ALK positive NSCLC patients benefit from ALK inhibitors, which improve both the patient's quality of life and overall survival (OS) compared to traditional chemotherapy.

Keywords

• anaplastic lymphoma kinase
• circulating free dna
• exosomes
• liquid biopsy
• non-small-cell lung cancer
• tyrosine kinase inhibitors