Clinicopathological characteristics of patients with surgically resected lung cancer having tumours harboring anaplastic lymphoma kinase fusion protein.

Platinum-based postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy is the standard treatment for stage II-IIIA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Novel therapeutic modalities are required to improve the outcome of an early stage NSCLC. Patients with advanced NSCLC having anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) fusion protein are sensitive to ALK inhibitors such as crizotinib. This study aimed to further explore the clinicopathological characteristics of postoperative patients with early-stage lung cancer harboring ALK fusion protein and provide a basis to carry out postoperative adjuvant crizotinib treatment. A total of 19 patients were retrospectively reviewed, and the clinicopathological parameters and follow-up data were collected and analysed. ALK rearrangements easily exist in male and in non-smokers patients with adenocarcinoma histology. Brain metastasis occurs easily, and prognosis of patients with stage IIIA is relatively poor. Detection of ALK fusion protein should be a routine testing. Postoperative adjuvant crizotinib treatment for patients with stage IIIA NSCLC harboring ALK fusion protein is promising.