title: Evaluation of anaplastic lymphoma kinase expression in nonsmall cell lung cancer;a tissue microarray analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The oncogenic form of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene is an attractive candidate marker for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in several malignancies, including nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study aimed to examine the expression levels and clinical significance of ALK in a series of NSCLC tumors.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed 140 samples of NSCLC, including 64 (46%) squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 62 (44%) adenocarcinoma (ADC), and 14 (10%) large cell carcinoma (LCC) for expression of ALK using immunohistochemistry; and immunostaining patterns were correlated with clinicopathological parameters.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Expression of ALK was significantly different between SCC with ADC (P < 0.001) and LCC samples (P < 0.001). The highest level of ALK expression was found in ADC cases with poor differentiation and high nuclear grade (P = 0.005 and P = 0.005, respectively). Furthermore, high level of ALK expression was more often observed in ADC cases with poor prognosis features (P = 0.013).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggested that ALK can be considered as a promising target in the targeted therapy in patients with lung ADC.
authors.affiliation: Oncopathology Research Center, FATiM, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Raheleh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roudi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, FATiM, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Haji
authors.affiliation: Oncopathology Research Center; Department of Pathology; Department of Molecular Medicine, FATiM, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Madjd
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14214, USA.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shariftabrizi
authors.affiliation: Oncopathology Research Center; Department of Pathology, FATiM, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mitra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mehrazma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000077548:Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis
chemical_list: C000626173:ALK protein, human; D000077548:Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases