title: Status of the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene in inflammatory breast carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although preliminary reports suggest that ALK gene amplification may occur in inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), data are limited. We performed a comprehensive investigation of the status of ALK gene in IBC.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used core biopsy (CB) samples from 30 IBC patients for immunohistochemistry (IHC), 25 of these samples for fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) of ALK gene rearrangement, 8 for chromosome 2 aneusomy, and 20 microdissected frozen CBs for array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and mRNA analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All 30 samples were negative for ALK protein expression by IHC. FISH analysis showed no EML4-ALK gene rearrangement in any samples, although 16 of the 25 samples (64%) contained 3 to 4 extra copies of the ALK gene, and chromosome 2 aneusomy was found in 7 of 8 samples that had extra copies of the ALK gene. Only 3 of the 20 samples showed evidence of mild ALK gene amplification by array CGH. mRNA analysis revealed that mRNA expression of ALK was not significantly higher in these samples compared with samples that showed no evidence of ALK gene amplification in CGH analysis, nor was mRNA expression of ALK significantly different in tumor compared with 5 normal breast samples (P > 0.05, t test).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our comprehensive evaluation suggests that ALK gene rearrangement did not occur in the IBC patients studied. The significance of our finding of mildly increased copy numbers of the ALK gene resulting from chromosome 2 aneusomy rather than mild amplification of the ALK gene requires further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd., Unit 53, Houston, TX 77030 USA.
authors.forename: Savitri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krishnamurthy
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Woodward
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Reuben
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tepperberg
authors.forename: Dai
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ogura
authors.forename: Shin-Ichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Niwa
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huo
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Randa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: El-Zein
authors.forename: Ana M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Angulo
authors.forename: Mariana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chavez-Macgregor
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lucci
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Valero
authors.forename: Naoto T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Ueno