Fouad Al Dayel
King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Saudi Arabia
Title: A retrospective analysis of frequency of ALK gene rearrangement in Saudi lung patients
Biography
Biography: Fouad Al Dayel
Abstract
Background: Lung carcinoma represents 2.6% of cancer seen at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSH & RC) and 4.5% of cancers in Saudi Arabia as per Saudi Cancer Registry. EML4-ALK re-arrangements are found to play an oncogenic driver role in lung adenocarcinoma tumor genesis in 3-6% of cases. ALK gene rearrangement testing can identify patients with adenocarcinoma who are sensitive to ALK kinase inhibitors. However, no data are available on the prevalence of ALK rearrangements changes in Middle Eastern population. Therefore, we carried out this study to evaluate the prevalence of ALK gene rearrangements in lung adenocarcinoma of Saudi patients. Methods: ALK gene rearrangements were studied using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on 198 adeno-carcinoma samples utilizing tissue microarray format. ALK gene rearrangements tested using break-apart probes from Vysis. Results: One hundred ninety eight (198) lung adenocarcinoma cases were evaluated. Eleven (11) cases exhibited ALK gene rearrangement (5.5%). Seven (7) of these cases were metastatic lung adenocarcinoma (stage IV). Mean age of the patient is 51 years (21-79 years). History of smoking was available on only four (4) cases (2 smokers and 2 non-smokers). All cases were moderately to poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. None of our cases showed signet cells or abundant intracellular mucin. Conclusion: The findings of this retrospective study show that the incidence of ALK gene rearrangements positive adenocarcinoma in Saudi patients is 5.5%. This is similar to the published data.