Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Apr 26;8(35):59889-59900.
doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.17431. eCollection 2017 Aug 29.

Concomitant EML4-ALK rearrangement and EGFR mutation in non-small cell lung cancer patients: a literature review of 100 cases

Giuseppe Lo Russo  1 , Martina Imbimbo  1 , Giulia Corrao  1 , Claudia Proto  1 , Diego Signorelli  1 , Milena Vitali  1 , Monica Ganzinelli  1 , Laura Botta  2 , Nicoletta Zilembo  1 , Filippo de Braud  1 , Marina Chiara Garassino  1
Affiliations
Review

Concomitant EML4-ALK rearrangement and EGFR mutation in non-small cell lung cancer patients: a literature review of 100 cases

Giuseppe Lo Russo et al. Oncotarget. .

Abstract

The discovery of EGFR mutations and EML4-ALK gene rearrangements has radically changed the therapeutic scenario for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. ALK and EGFR tyrosine-kinase inhibitors showed better activity and efficacy than standard chemotherapy in the first and second line treatment settings, leading to a clear advantage in overall survival of advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients harboring these genetic alterations. Historically the coexistence of EGFR mutations and EML4-ALK rearrangements in the same tumor has been described as virtually impossible. Nevertheless many recent observations seem to show that it is not true in all cases. In this review we will discuss the available literature data regarding this rare group of patients in order to give some suggestions useful for their clinical management. Furthermore we report here two cases of concomitant presence of both alterations that will help us in the development of discussion.

Keywords: EGFR mutations; EML4-ALK rearrangements; coexistent; concomitant; non-small cell lung cancer.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST All authors declare no conflicts of interest directly relevant to this paper. MC Garassino declares consultancies from MSD, BMS, Astra Zeneca, Eli Lilly.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Flow diagram of the study selection process
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Francisci S, Minicozzi P, Pierannunzio D, Ardanaz E, Eberle A, Grimsrud TK, Knijn A, Pastorino U, SalmerónD Trama A, M; Sant, EUROCARE-5 Working Group Survival patterns in lung and pleural cancer in Europe 1999-2007: results from the EUROCARE-5 study. Eur J Cancer. 2015. Sep 5, [Epub ahead of print] - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rossi A, Torri V, Garassino MC, Porcu L, Galetta D. The impact of personalized medicine on survival: comparisons of results in metastatic breast, colorectal and non-small-cell lung cancers. Cancer Treat Rev. 2014;40:485–94. doi: 10.1016/j.ctrv.2013.09.012. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Reck M, Popat S, Reinmuth N, De Ruysscher D, Kerr KM, Peters S, ESMO Guidelines Working Group Metastatic non small- cell lung cancer (NSCLC): ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. Ann Oncol. 2014;25:27–39. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdu199. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dearden S, Stevens J, Wu YL, Blowers D. Mutation incidence and coincidence in non small-cell lung cancer: meta-analyses by ethnicity and histology (mutMap) Ann Oncol. 2013;24:2371–6. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdt205. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lee CK, Brown C, Gralla RJ, Hirsh V, Thongprasert S, Tsai CM, Tan EH, Ho JC, Chu da T, Zaatar A, Osorio Sanchez JA, Vu VV, Au JS, et al. Impact of EGFR inhibitor in non-small cell lung cancer on progression-free and overall survival: a meta-analysis. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2013;105:595–605. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djt072. - DOI - PubMed