Gene expression-signatures for non-small cell lung cancer patients with different ALK mutational status.

To identify a plasma microRNA panel that could help to distinguish ALK positive with ALK negative NSCLC patients, plasma samples of 3 ALK-positive, 3 ALK-negative NSCLC, and 3 Healthy Subjects were selected for Agilent miRNA microarray analysis to detect differences in the expression levels of circulating miRNAs (n = 2568) between the above cohorts. In the study presented here, plasma samples of 3 ALK-pos, 3 ALK-neg, and 3 Healthy subjects were selected for the Agilent microRNA array expression profiles with a total of 2568 unique miRNAs. The significantly dysregulated miRNAs between the above cohorts were then validated by qRT-PCR.