Targeted Resequencing Reveals ALK Fusions in Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinomas Detected by FISH, Immunohistochemistry, and Real-Time RT-PCR: A Comparison of Four Methods
Table 2
Comparison of the methods used for ALK fusion detection in present study.
FISH
IHC
Real-time RT-PCR
Targeted resequencing
Fusion types detectable
No fusion specification
No fusion specification
Only EML4-ALK fusions
All kind of fusions
Sensitivity
10–15%
5–10%
1–5%
Not determined
Time used for analysis
2-3 days
Half a day
1 day
10 days
Cost
Medium (~200 euros)
Low (~20 euros)
Medium (~150 euros)
High (~1000 euros)
Is FFPE material applicable?
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Amount of material required
One tissue section (2.5 m thick)
One tissue section (2.5 m thick)
0.1–0.5 g of RNA
2-3 g of DNA
Possibility to see large range of other gene mutations in one analysis
No
No
No
Yes
The applicability to average laboratory of pathology
