1. ¹Department of Surgery, Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, 4546 Tsurumihara, Beppu 874-0838, Japan
2. ²Department of Surgery, Kagoshima University, 8-35-1 Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima 890-8544, Japan
3. ³Department of Surgery, Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital, 1-9-6 Senda, Hiroshima 730-8619, Japan

Correspondence: Dr M Mori, Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology, Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, 4546 Tsurumihara, Beppu 874-0838, Japan. E-mail: mmori@beppu.kyushu-u.ac.jp

⁴These authors contributed equally to this study.

Received 11 December 2007; Revised 27 February 2008; Accepted 10 March 2008; Published online 15 April 2008.

Abstract

Fusion genes have been identified as chromosomal rearrangements in certain cancers, such as leukaemia, lymphoma, and sarcoma. The EML4–ALK (EML4: echinoderm microtubule-associated-protein-like 4; ALK: anaplastic lymphoma kinase) fusion gene has been identified as an oncogene in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study examined the presence of this fusion transcript in gastrointestinal and breast cancers. We evaluated the expression of the EML4–ALK transcript in 104 lung cancer cases and in 645 gastrointestinal and breast cancer samples. Only one of the lung cancer samples tested positive for the EML4–ALK fusion transcript, whereas none were detected in 555 gastrointestinal and 90 breast cancer cases. Our data suggest that the EML4–ALK fusion transcript is not present in gastrointestinal or breast cancers and is specific to NSCLC.