Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in China. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 85% of lung cancer cases, with the majority of the cases diagnosed at the advanced stage. Molecular targeted therapy is becoming the focus attention for advanced NSCLC. Echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 gene and the anaplastic lymphoma kinase gene (EML4-ALK) is among the most common molecular targets of NSCLC; its specific small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are approved for use in advanced NSCLC cases of ALK-positive. However, the influence of EML4-ALK fusion gene on the outcome of early-stage NSCLC cases and the necessity of application of TKIs for early-stage ALK-positive NSCLC patients are still uncertain. In this paper, we summarized the progression of testing methods for ALK-positive NSCLC patients as well as clinicopathological implication, outcome, and necessity of application of TKIs for early-stage ALK-positive NSCLC patients.
肺癌是我国癌症死亡最主要的原因。其中非小细胞肺癌（non-small cell lung cancer, NSCLC）占肺癌患者的85%，且大部分患者初诊时即为晚期。针对晚期NSCLC患者，分子靶向治疗成为人们关注的热点。棘皮动物微管相关蛋白-间变淋巴瘤激酶（echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 gene and the anaplastic lymphoma kinase gene, EML4-ALK）是NSCLC最常见的分子靶点之一，其特异性的小分子酪氨酸激酶抑制剂（tyrosine kinase inhibitors, TKIs）已被批准应用于ALK阳性晚期NSCLC患者的治疗。然而，ALK融合基因对早期NSCLC患者预后的影响，以及ALK阳性的早期NSCLC患者应用TKIs的必要性等问题尚不明确。本文主要围绕ALK阳性NSCLC患者的检测进展，早期ALK阳性NSCLC患者的临床病理特征、预后、ALK-TKIs应用必要性等情况做一简要综述。.