Sentences with phrase «alk mutation»

«Incredibly, it was positive,» Martensen says — he was among the fortunate few with the well - defined ALK mutation.

For Martensen, the odds were slim that he had the ALK mutation that would make Xalkori effective for him.

«It became clear after reading the paper that crizotinib might also work in patients with the ALK mutation in lung cancer,» Shaw says.

Next came the test to see if Martensen's tumor contained the ALK mutation, which occurs when a section of DNA in the ALK gene, located on chromosome 2, breaks apart.

Since whole - brain radiation is associated with significant cognitive effects and the use of additional radiation therapy for progression is common in this population, the Yale researchers suspect that patients with the ALK mutation would benefit from radiation focused on individual metastases.

Not all lung cancers are linked to ALK mutations, so the drug crizotinib, which inhibits the mutant enzyme, is prescribed only for that small subgroup of lung cancer patients.

Not exact matches

Previous studies of genetic alterations in lymphoma and lung cancer have found that certain genetic mutations — specifically when part of a gene breaks off and gets fused to another — can inappropriately switch on ALK, driving cancer cells to grow and divide.

Of the more than 1,600 samples tested, 10.5 % had EGFR sensitizing, 18.8 % EGFR resistance, 13.2 % KRAS, and 2 % EML4 - ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase) mutations.

«Testing for EGFR mutations, ALK rearrangements is cost - effective in NSCLC..»

However, the presence of EGFR mutations and ALK rearrangements is low in unselected NSCLC, 9.5 % and 3.9 %, respectively.

The abnormality in ALK that arises in NSCLC is not, strictly speaking, a mutation (a change in the sequence of DNA within a gene).

The advent of therapies directed at tumors with mutations in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), and B - Raf proto - oncogene (BRAF) genes over the past decade have dramatically changed outcomes, he says.

Testing for the EGFR mutation and ALK rearrangements and the use of targeted therapies have given lung cancer patients the chance for survival, along with improved quality of life and time with loved ones.

The NIH and Mass General are at the vanguard of a major effort to identify and treat cancer based on causative gene mutations like the one found in ALK.

But the diagnostic test, which checks to see if a patient's tumor carries a mutation in a gene coding for anaplastic lymphoma kinase, called ALK, is just $ 250.

This disorder is associated with mutations in members of the TGF ‐ β receptor superfamily, including bone morphogenetic protein receptor ‐ 2 (BMPR ‐ 2), Alk ‐ 1, and endoglin.

Nonetheless, low - dose computed tomography screens may change diagnostic prospects in the future, and recently developed therapies targeting tumors harboring mutations in EGFR or ALK receptors are showing promise.

Lemmon is collaborating with oncologists at Penn who have sequenced the ALK gene in nearly 2000 neuroblastoma tumors and found 50 different mutations.