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| Overview Insight ALK Screen™ Insight ALK Resistance™ ALK Background & Significance |
Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) is a receptor tyrosine kinase of the insulin receptor superfamily. Translocations (fusions) of ALK have an established pathogenic role in more than 250,000 new cancer diagnoses in the U.S. each year. Detection of ALK mutations has been considered increasingly important in the diagnosis and therapy selection for many types of cancer, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), neuroblastoma (NBL) and inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors (IMT). Because of the potential for ALK-inhibitor therapies to treat so many cancers, there are several ALK inhibitors currently in development by pharmaceutical firms.
The Insight ALK Assays are based on the need for better methods of not only detecting activating ALK fusions and upregulation across many cancer types and but also monitoring for resistance mutations that arise in response to ALK-inhibitor therapy. Our Insight ALK Screen assay provides quick, accurate detection of any ALK fusion. Insight ALK Resistance Monitoring assays will assist in monitoring patients for ALK resistance mutations.
Collaboration with Key Opinion LeadersInsight ALK Assays are being developed and validated with Dr. Stephan Morris of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Dr. Morris is an internationally recognized physician-scientist and translational investigator whose work focuses on molecular oncology. The Morris laboratory has discovered and characterized a number of oncogenes including NPM-ALK and several other ALK fusion genes and the BCL10 oncogene found in non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, and the NPM-MLF1 and RBM15-MKL1 fusion genes of acute myeloid leukemias.
Overview of ALK Fusion Landscape
| Fusions | Cancer Types | References |
| EML4-ALK (v.1-11) | NSCLC | Mano H., Cancer Sci. 2008 Dec;99(12):2349-55 Shaw AT et al., J Clin Oncol. 2009 Aug 10 (Epub ahead of print) Horn L, Pao W., J Clin Oncol. 2009 Aug 10 (Epub ahead of print) |
| KIF5B-ALK | NSCLC | Takeuchi K et al., Clin Cancer Res. 2009 May 1;15(9):3143-9 |
| TFG-ALK | NSCLC | Rikova K, et al., Cell. 2007;131(6):1190–203. |
| CLTC-ALK | DLBCL | Rudzki Z et al., Pol J Pathol. 2005;56(1):37-45. |
| NPM-ALK, MSN-ALK, & others | ALCL | Lamant L et al., Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 2003 Aug;37(4):427-32 Webb TR et al. Expert Rev Anticancer Ther. 2009 Mar; 9(3):331-56. |
| TPM4-ALK | ESCC, IMT | Li R, Morris SW., Med Res Rev. 2008 May;28(3):372-412. |
| TPM3-ALK, TPM4-ALK, CLTC-ALK, RanBP2-ALK | IMT | Gleason BC, Hornick JL. J Clin Pathol 2008 Apr;61(4):428-37. |
