ALK gene rearrangements

ALK gene rearrangements

Errors in the in the ALK gene are one type of lung cancer biomarker. ALK stands for anaplastic lymphoma kinase. It was originally described in lymphoma, but most ALK-positive cancers are in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The ALK gene is in your body when you are an embryo and helps in the development of the gut and nervous system. It gets turned off while you are still in the womb. For some people, it gets turned back on and fuses, or joins, with another gene. This gene change is called an ALK fusion or ALK rearrangement and can cause cancer. When this fusion happens, a patient is said to be ALK-positive.

For further information, see https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/lung-cancer/symptoms-diagnosis/biomarker-testing/alk-lung-cancer

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Collected as site-specific data item 2021+.

For further information, see https://apps.naaccr.org/ssdi/list/: Lung schema.

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