Om ALCL individuals. The authors proposed three proteins, namely tenascin C, osteopontin and heat shock protein 90 as potential biomarkers for ALCL prognostic stratification [74]. Altogether, these studies open the possibility to assess the threat of relapse and to monitor the response to therapy within a disease where tissue re-biopsies are generally difficult to get. 3.two. Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) NSCLC is the most prevalent histological subtype of lung cancer, accounting for around 85 of all lung cancer cases worldwide [75]. Whilst surgical resection with or without adjuvant cytotoxic chemotherapy would be the mainstay treatment for early-stage NSCLC individuals, oncogene-addicted and advanced-stage NSCLC patients are treated with targeted or immunotherapies. Chromosomal rearrangements involving ALK had been 1st identified in NSCLC in 2007 exactly where the three region in the ALK gene was identified fused with all the five sequence from the echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4) gene resulting inside the expression with the EML4-ALK oncogenic fusion protein [76,77]. ALK+ NSCLCs are dependent on the activity in the fusion kinase, therefore inhibition of ALK leadsCancers 2021, 13,six ofto the selective elimination of cancer cells. These discoveries led for the development of ALK inhibitor-based remedies [78]. Confirmation from the presence of ALK fusions for diagnostic purposes is usually performed making use of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) of biopsy or surgically resected tissues, the latter considered the gold regular method [792]. Moreover, quantitative PCR has also been utilized to detect ALK transcripts in primary samples [83]. Although RT-PCR is one of the simplest and most sensitive strategies to detect ALK, the results are heavily dependent around the high quality of beginning RNA material, which can be not really high in formalinfixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimens. As much as 20 of biopsies are inadequate for molecular testing as a result of insufficient tissue amounts and re-biopsy at the diagnosis or at relapse is usually unfeasible. The lack of 25-Hydroxycholesterol Epigenetic Reader Domain enough tissue material, also as issues in obtaining tissue from high-risk patients, impelled the improvement of option assays for diagnostic purposes. In such scenarios, liquid biopsy allows for the evaluation of quite a few blood-based biomarkers, which includes the detection of driver oncogenes, enabling molecular diagnosis [84,85]. Despite substantial survival advantages soon after exposure to first- (crizotinib) or 1-Methyladenosine site second/thirdgeneration TKIs (ceritinib, alectinib, brigatinib, ensartinib, lorlatinib) all individuals acquire resistance to the inhibitor inside a comparatively quick time, even though some sufferers usually do not respond in the start (major resistance) [2]. The utility of liquid biopsy in this setting is specifically eye-catching to identify this cancer at an early stage, choose the best remedy option for individuals and in the same time monitor the response to treatment, assess the risk of metastasis and prognosis of sufferers [868]. Moreover, frequent sampling can anticipate the detection of resistance mechanisms [46,89]. three.two.1. Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) Attempts to utilize CTC detection as a lung cancer biomarker happen to be made over the final 10 years [903]. In among the very first reports around the detection of ALK rearrangements in CTCs from 34 NSCLC individuals [94], 100 concordance was observed involving CTCs and tissue biopsies (Table 1). Interestingly, ALK staining in CTCs was far more homogenous compared t.