Our ALK break apart probe is designed to detect ALK translocations. The probe comes labeled in orange and green, but can be customized to meet your needs. 

Gene Background: ALK encodes a tyrosine kinase receptor which plays a crucial role in intracellular signal transduction, allowing for cell growth and differentiation.1 Aberrations in ALK, especially translocations, have been found to play a significant role in the development of over 20 different types of cancers, especially lung and lymph.2 Approximately 3-5% of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cases harbor ALK translocations.3 These rearrangments most frequently occur via fusion of the 3’-portion of ALK, encoding its oncogenic kinase domain, with the 5’-portion of a partner gene, putting ALK under control of the partner’s promoter.2  ALK’s most frequent fusion partner in NSCLC is EML4, but over 30 different fusion genes have been identified, albeit in lower frequencies than EML4, in tumors of ALK-associated cancers.4 NSCLC patients with ALK translocations are typically younger women with no smoking history, and the most frequent tumor pathological type is adenocarcinoma.4

** This product is for in vitro and research use only. This product is not intended for diagnostic use.

Gene Summary

This gene encodes a receptor tyrosine kinase, which belongs to the insulin receptor superfamily. This protein comprises an extracellular domain, an hydrophobic stretch corresponding to a single pass transmembrane region, and an intracellular kinase domain. It plays an important role in the development of the brain and exerts its effects on specific neurons in the nervous system. This gene has been found to be rearranged, mutated, or amplified in a series of tumours including anaplastic large cell lymphomas, neuroblastoma, and non-small cell lung cancer. The chromosomal rearrangements are the most common genetic alterations in this gene, which result in creation of multiple fusion genes in tumourigenesis, including ALK (chromosome 2)/EML4 (chromosome 2), ALK/RANBP2 (chromosome 2), ALK/ATIC (chromosome 2), ALK/TFG (chromosome 3), ALK/NPM1 (chromosome 5), ALK/SQSTM1 (chromosome 5), ALK/KIF5B (chromosome 10), ALK/CLTC (chromosome 17), ALK/TPM4 (chromosome 19), and ALK/MSN (chromosome X).[provided by RefSeq, Jan 2011]

Gene Details

Gene Symbol: ALK

Gene Name: ALK Receptor Tyrosine Kinase

Chromosome: CHR2: 29415639-30144477

Locus: 2p23.2-p23.1

References

Atypical Spitzoid Neoplasms in Childhood: A Molecular and Outcome Study

Atypical spitzoid neoplasms (APNs) are primarily pediatric lesions characterized by their intermediate features; clinically and histopathologically, they fall somewhere between benign spitz nevi and malignant melanoma. The genetics of these tumors are still poorly understood. In this study, 34 APNs were analyzed using FISH and IHC. Our ALK, BRAF, and NTRK1 break-apart FISH probes were used to detect rearrangements of the genes .

Alterations in ALK/ROS1/NTRK/MET drive a group of infantile hemispheric gliomas

While studies are plentiful on adult gliomas, infant cases are historically understudied. This team sought to account for that lack of data by analyzing glioma biopsies from 150 infants. As part of genetic profiling, our ALK break apart probe was used to detect ALK rearrangements. The team was able to divide the tumors into three genetic subtypes that were tightly tied to clinical outcome. They also found that many of the tumors harbored just a single oncogene, evidence that infant gliomas are usually single driver tumors.

ALK-rearranged renal cell carcinomas in Polish population

Since the first report 2010, 22 cases of ALK-rearranged renal cell carcinoma (RCC) have been described. This study screened over 1000 Polish RCC patients for ALK translocations using IHC followed by FISH with our ALK break apart FISH probe. Only 31 cases were considered potentially positive or indeterminable by IHC; of these, none tested positive for ALK rearrangement with FISH. These results suggests that the mutation might be related to ethnicity, warranting further investigation into its prevalence in other ethnicities.