TFG-ALK (Tex4Aex20), Active

Anaplastic large cell lymphomas are associated with chromosomal aberrations involving the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene, resulting in the expression of novel chimeric ALK proteins with transforming properties. In most of these tumors, the t(2;5)(p23;q35) generates the NPM-ALK fusion gene. Genes other than NPM have been demonstrated to fuse to the ALK gene. Two different ALK rearrangements involving the TRK-fused gene (TFG) in which the same portion of ALK was fused to different length fragments of the 5' TFG region. These two rearrangements encoded chimeric proteins of 85 kd (TFG-ALK(S)) and 97 kd (TFG-ALK(L)), respectively. TFG can provide an alternative to NPM as a fusion partner responsible for activation of the ALK and the pathogenesis of ALCL.