ALK, NUT, and TRK Do Not Play Relevant Roles in Gastric Cancer-Results of an Immunohistochemical Study in a Large Series

Marie-Isabelle Glückstein; Sebastian Dintner; Silvia Miller; Dmytro Vlasenko; Gerhard Schenkirsch; Abbas Agaimy; Bruno Märkl; Bianca Grosser

doi:10.3390/diagnostics12020429

ALK, NUT, and TRK Do Not Play Relevant Roles in Gastric Cancer-Results of an Immunohistochemical Study in a Large Series

Diagnostics (Basel). 2022 Feb 7;12(2):429. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics12020429.

Authors

Marie-Isabelle Glückstein¹, Sebastian Dintner¹, Silvia Miller¹, Dmytro Vlasenko², Gerhard Schenkirsch³, Abbas Agaimy⁴, Bruno Märkl¹, Bianca Grosser¹

Affiliations

¹ General Pathology and Molecular Diagnostics, Medical Faculty, University of Augsburg, 86159 Augsburg, Germany.
² General, Visceral, and Transplantation Surgery, Medical Faculty, University of Augsburg, 86159 Augsburg, Germany.
³ Tumor Data Management, Medical Faculty, University of Augsburg, 86159 Augsburg, Germany.
⁴ Institute of Pathology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, University Hospital Erlangen, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.

Abstract

ALK, NUT, and TRK are rare molecular aberrations that are pathognomonic for specific rare tumors. In low frequencies, however, they are found in a wide range of other tumor entities. This study aimed to investigate the frequency, association with clinicopathological characteristics, and prognosis of the immunohistochemical expressions of ALK, NUT, and TRK in 477 adenocarcinomas of the stomach and gastroesophageal junction. Seven cases (1.5%) showed an expression of TRK. In NGS, no NTRK fusion was confirmed. No case with ALK or NUT expression was detected. ALK, NUT, and NTRK expression does not seem to play an important role in gastric carcinomas.

Keywords: ALK; NUT; TRK; gastric cancer; immunohistochemistry.