Mutational status predicts the risk of thromboembolic events in lung adenocarcinoma

Incidence and risk factors of VTE in lung cancer: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Lung cancer has maintained a high prevalence and mortality. Besides, venous thromboembolism (VTE) is the third most common disease of cardiovascular disease. Lung cancer with VTE usually influenced the overall survival in the follow-up. In the development of lung cancer, vigilance against and early diagnosis of VTE is of significance.

METHODS

We searched the databases of PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and Cochrane for related research up to 30 November 2023 and extracted information of incidence, odds ratio (OR), hazard ratio (HR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs), for evaluating the incidence of VTE and its risk factors.

RESULTS

A total of 54 articles and 873,292 records were included in our study. The pooled incidences of VTE and PE were 6% and 3%, respectively. Subgroup analysis revealed that the tumour, node and metastasis (TNM) stage (HR= 5.43, 95% CI: 2.42, 12.22), metastasis (HR= 2.67, 95% CI: 1.35, 5.29) and chemotherapy (HR= 2.27, 95% CI: 1.11, 4.65) had major influence on VTE occurrence.

CONCLUSIONS

Lung cancer complicated with VTE is unignorable, and its occurrence varies widely by tumour staging, tissue type and treatment. The results may aid in clinical decision-making about lung cancer in higher risk with VTE and weather receiving anticoagulant prophylaxis.

Cancer-Associated Thrombosis: Epidemiology, Pathophysiological Mechanisms, Treatment, and Risk Assessment

Cancer patients represent a growing population with drastically difficult care and a lowered quality of life, especially due to the heightened risk of vast complications. Thus, it is well established so far that one of the most prominent complications in individuals with cancer is venous thromboembolism. Since there are various improved methods for screening and diagnosing cancer and its complications, the incidence of cancer-associated thrombosis has been on the rise in recent years. Therefore, the high mortality and morbidity rates among these patients are not a surprise. Consequently, there is an excruciating need for understanding the mechanisms behind this complex process, as well as the imperative for adequate analysis and application of the most suitable steps for cancer-associated thrombosis prevention. There are various and numerous mechanisms offering potential answers to cancer-associated thrombosis, some of which have already been elucidated in various preclinical and clinical scenarios, yet further and more elaborate studies are crucial to understanding and preventing this complex and harsh clinical entity. This article elaborates on the growing incidence, mortality, morbidity, and risk factors of cancer-associated thrombosis while emphasizing the pathophysiological mechanisms in the light of various types of cancer in patients and summarizes the most novel therapy and prevention guidelines recommendations.

Evaluating the effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors on venous thromboembolism in non-small cell lung cancer patients

OBJECTIVE

Currently, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) therapy is one of the main methods of treatment in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study aimed to explore the risk factors of VTE and evaluate the effect of ICIs on VTE in patients with NSCLC.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We retrospectively studied patients with NSCLC who were divided into VTE group and without VTE (Non-VTE) group. We identified the risk factors of VTE in NSCLC patients and evaluated the effect of ICIs on VTE in NSCLC patients.

RESULTS

We found that clinical stage III-IV (P = 0.015) and Khorana score (KS) ≥ 2 (P = 0.047) were independent risk factors for the occurrence of VTE in NSCLC, and treatment with ICIs reduced the risk of VTE occurrence (P = 0.028). There were no differences of survival rates in the 12-month (P = 0.449), 24-month (P = 0.412), or 36-month (P = 0.315) between the VTE and non-VTE groups. History of anti-angiogenic therapy (P = 0.033) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (P = 0.046) were independent risk factors for VTE in NSCLC patients who were treated with ICIs.

CONCLUSION

This study suggests that we should strengthen anticoagulant therapy when using ICIs for NSCLC patients with a history of anti-angiogenic therapy and COPD.

The Role of EGFR Amplification in Deep Venous Thrombosis Occurrence in IDH Wild-Type Glioblastoma

Introduction: Glioblastoma (GBM) patients have a 20-30 incidence of venous thromboembolic events. EGFR is a widely used prognostic marker for many cancers. Recent lung cancer studies have described relationships between EGFR amplification and an increased incidence of thromboembolic complications. We aim to explore this relationship in glioblastoma patients. Methods: Two hundred ninety-three consecutive patients with IDH wild-type GBM were included in the analysis. The amplification status of EGFR was measured using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Centromere 7 (CEP7) expression was recorded to calculate the EGFR-to-CEP7 ratio. All data were collected retrospectively through chart review. Molecular data were obtained through the surgical pathology report at the time of biopsy. Results: There were 112 subjects who were EGFR-amplified (38.2%) and 181 who were non-amplified (61.8%). EGFR amplification status was not significantly correlated with VTE risk overall (p = 0.2001). There was no statistically significant association between VTE and EGFR status after controlling for Bevacizumab therapy (p = 0.1626). EGFR non-amplified status was associated with an increased VTE risk in subjects greater than 60 years of age (p = 0.048). Conclusions: There was no significant difference in occurrence of VTE in patients with glioblastoma, regardless of EGFR amplification status. Patients older than 60 years of age with EGFR amplification experienced a lower rate of VTE, contrary to some reports on non-small-cell lung cancer linking EGFR amplification to VTE risk.

Application of Machine Learning to the Prediction of Cancer-Associated Venous Thromboembolism

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common and impactful complication of cancer. Several clinical prediction rules have been devised to estimate the risk of a thrombotic event in this patient population, however they are associated with limitations. We aimed to develop a predictive model of cancer-associated VTE using machine learning as a means to better integrate all available data, improve prediction accuracy and allow applicability regardless of timing for systemic therapy administration. A retrospective cohort was used to fit and validate the models, consisting of adult patients who had next generation sequencing performed on their solid tumor for the years 2014 to 2019. A deep learning survival model limited to demographic, cancer-specific, laboratory and pharmacological predictors was selected based on results from training data for 23,800 individuals and was evaluated on an internal validation set including 5,951 individuals, yielding a time-dependent concordance index of 0.72 (95% CI = 0.70-0.74) for the first 6 months of observation. Adapted models also performed well overall compared to the Khorana Score (KS) in two external cohorts of individuals starting systemic therapy; in an external validation set of 1,250 patients, the C-index was 0.71 (95% CI = 0.65-0.77) for the deep learning model vs 0.66 (95% CI = 0.59-0.72) for the KS and in a smaller external cohort of 358 patients the C-index was 0.59 (95% CI = 0.50-0.69) for the deep learning model vs 0.56 (95% CI = 0.48-0.64) for the KS. The proportions of patients accurately reclassified by the deep learning model were 25% and 26% respectively. In this large cohort of patients with a broad range of solid malignancies and at different phases of systemic therapy, the use of deep learning resulted in improved accuracy for VTE incidence predictions. Additional studies are needed to further assess the validity of this model.

Explainable Machine Learning Model to Prediction EGFR Mutation in Lung Cancer

Objectives

The aim of this study is to determine whether the clinical features including blood markers can establish an explainable machine learning model to predict epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation in lung cancer.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed 7,413 patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LA) diagnosed by gene sequencing in West China Hospital of the Sichuan University from April 2015 to June 2019. The machine learning algorithms (MLAs) included logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), LightGBM, support vector machine (SVM), multi-layer perceptron (MLP), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), and decision tree (DT). Demographic characteristics, personal history, and blood markers were taken into. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and SHapley Additive exPlanation (SHAP) value were used to explain the prediction models.

Results

Of the 7,413 patients with LA (47.6%), 3,527 were identified with EGFR mutation; RF achieved greatest performance in predicting EGFR mutation AUC [0.771, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.770, 0.772], which was like XGBoost with AUC (0.740, 95% CI: 0.739, 0.741). The five most influential features were smoking consumption, sex, cholesterol, age, and albumin globulin ratio. The SHAP summary and dependence plot have been used to explain the affection of the 12 features to this model and how a single feature influences the output, respectively.

Conclusion

We established EGFR mutation prediction models by MLAs and revealed that the RF was preferred, AUC (0.771, 95% CI: 0.770, 0.772), which was better than the traditional models. Therefore, the artificial intelligence–based MLA predicting model may become a practical tool to guide in diagnosis and therapy of LA.

Thromboembolism in ALK+ and ROS1+ NSCLC patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION

Increased thromboembolism (TE) has been reported in ALK+ and ROS1+ non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Odds ratios (OR) and hazard ratios (HR) of TE were calculated from meta-analysis and time-to-event analysis respectively for either ALK+ or ROS1+ NSCLC patients.

RESULTS

We identified eight studies (766 ALK+, 143 ROS1+, 2314 non-ALK+ and non-ROS1+ NSCLC patients) for the meta-analysis. For ALK+ NSCLC, the pooled OR was 2.00 (95% CI: 1.60-2.50) for total TE (TTE) by random-effects model, 2.10 (95% CI: 1.70-2.60) for venous thromboembolism (VTE), and 1.24 (95% CI: 0.80-1.91) for arterial thromboembolism (ATE). For ROS1+ NSCLC, the pooled OR was 3.08 (95% CI: 1.95-4.86) for TTE, and 3.15 (95% CI: 1.83-5.43) for VTE. Six studies (739 ALK+, 137 ROS1+, 561 EGFR+, 714 "wildtype" NSCLC patients) were included in the time-to-event analysis. The TTE incidence rate was 17.4 (95% CI: 15.3-19.5) per 100 pateint-years for ALK+ NSCLC, and 32.1 (95% CI: 24.6-39.6) per 100 patient-years for ROS1+ NSCLC with a 50 % cumulative incidence rate at year 3 of diagnosis. HR for TTE was 2.35 (95% CI: 1.90-2.92, p < 0.001) and 3.23 (95% CI: 2.40-4.34, p < 0.001) for ALK+ and ROS1+ NSCLC, respectively. Comparing ROS1+ NSCLC to ALK+ NSCLC, HR for TTE was 1.37 (95% CI: 1.05-1.79, p = 0.020).

CONCLUSIONS

ALK+ and ROS1+ NSCLC patients had an increased risk of TE. ROS1+ NSCLC had further increased risk of TE over ALK+ NSCLC.

Driver Genes Associated With the Incidence of Venous Thromboembolism in Patients With Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND

The association between driver genes and the incidence of thromboembolic events (TEs) in patients diagnosed with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) needs to be quantified to guide clinical management.

METHODS

We interrogated PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane library databases for terms related to venous thromboembolism (VTE) and arterial thromboembolism (ATE) in patients diagnosed with non-small-cell lung cancer harboring driver genes. This search was conducted for studies published between 1 January, 2000 and 31 December, 2020. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed to analyze the pooled incidence and odds ratios of VTE in patients with different driver genes.

RESULTS

Of the 2,742 citations identified, a total of 25 studies that included 21,156 patients met eligibility criteria. The overall pooled incidence of VTE in patients with driver genes was 23% (95% CI 18-29). Patients with ROS1 rearrangements had the highest incidence of VTE (37%, 95%CI 23-52). ALK rearrangements were associated with increased VTE risks (OR=2.08,95% CI 1.69-2.55), with the second highest incidence of VTE (27%, 95%CI 20-35). Both groups of patients with EGFR and KRAS mutations did not show a significantly increased risk for VTE (OR=1.33, 95% CI 0.75-2.34; OR=1.31, 95% CI 0.40-4.28).

CONCLUSIONS

ALK rearrangements were shown to be associated with increased VTE risks in patients diagnosed with non-small lung cancer, while there was no significant relation observed between VTE risks and EGFR or KRAS mutations in lung cancer patients.

Genomic profiling identifies somatic mutations predicting thromboembolic risk in patients with solid tumors

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) associated with cancer (CAT) is a well-described complication of cancer and a leading cause of death in patients with cancer. The purpose of this study was to assess potential associations of molecular signatures with CAT, including tumor-specific mutations and the presence of clonal hematopoiesis. We analyzed deep-coverage targeted DNA-sequencing data of >14 000 solid tumor samples using the Memorial Sloan Kettering-Integrated Mutation Profiling of Actionable Cancer Targets platform to identify somatic alterations associated with VTE. End point was defined as the first instance of cancer-associated pulmonary embolism and/or proximal/distal lower extremity deep vein thrombosis. Cause-specific Cox proportional hazards regression was used, adjusting for pertinent clinical covariates. Of 11 695 evaluable individuals, 72% had metastatic disease at time of analysis. Tumor-specific mutations in KRAS (hazard ratio [HR], 1.34; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.09-1.64; adjusted P = .08), STK11 (HR, 2.12; 95% CI, 1.55-2.89; adjusted P < .001), KEAP1 (HR, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.21-2.79; adjusted P = .07), CTNNB1 (HR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.15-2.60; adjusted P = .09), CDKN2B (HR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.13-1.85; adjusted P = .07), and MET (HR, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.15-2.92; adjusted P = .09) were associated with a significantly increased risk of CAT independent of tumor type. Mutations in SETD2 were associated with a decreased risk of CAT (HR, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.16-0.79; adjusted P = .09). The presence of clonal hematopoiesis was not associated with an increased VTE rate. This is the first large-scale analysis to elucidate tumor-specific genomic events associated with CAT. Somatic tumor mutations of STK11, KRAS, CTNNB1, KEAP1, CDKN2B, and MET were associated with an increased risk of VTE in patients with solid tumors. Further analysis is needed to validate these findings and identify additional molecular signatures unique to individual tumor types.

Risk of thromboembolism in patients with ALK- and EGFR-mutant lung cancer: A cohort study

INTRODUCTION

Thromboembolism (TE) is common in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and is associated with worse outcomes. Recent advances in the understanding of NSCLC have led to the identification of molecular subtypes such as anaplastic lymphocyte kinase (ALK) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations. The association of these subtypes with risk of TE has not been fully explored.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of consecutive NSCLC patients seen at the Cleveland Clinic from July 2002 through July 2017 for whom molecular classification and follow-up were available. TE events included deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE), visceral vein thrombosis (VVT), and arterial events. TE-free survival and overall survival rates for each of the molecular subtypes (wild-type, ALK-mutant, and EGFR-mutant) were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with the endpoints TE and overall survival. TE was analyzed as a conditional, time-dependent covariate to assess its impact with respect to overall survival.

RESULTS

The study population consisted of 461 patients. Approximately half were females (n = 263, 57%) and 58% (n = 270) were older than 65 years. TE occurred in 98 of 461 patients (21.3%) during a median follow-up of 33.1 months. The highest cumulative rates of TE were observed in patients with ALK-mutant NSCLC (N = 20/46, 43.5%) followed by patients with EGFR-mutant cancers (N = 35/165, 21.2%) and wild-type cancers (N = 43/250, 17.2%) P < .05. Cumulative incidence of TE at 6 months of follow-up was 15.7% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.0%-26.4%) for ALK-mutant cancers, 8.8% (95% CI: 4.4%-13.2%) for EGFR-mutant cancers, and 9.2% (95% CI: 5.4%-12.9%) for wild-type cancers. Patients who experienced TE had worse overall survival (all patients: hazard ratio = 2.8 95% CI 2.1-3.6, P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with ALK-mutant advanced lung adenocarcinoma have the highest rate of TE. TE is associated with worse survival across molecular subtypes. These findings should be taken into consideration in decision-making regarding thromboprophylaxis.

High discrepancy in thrombotic events in non-small cell lung cancer patients with different genomic alterations

Background

Acute complications, such as venous thromboembolism (VTE), are common in patients with advanced severe lung cancers. However, current VTE risk scores cannot adequately identify high-risk patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The study proposed to elucidated the incidence of thromboembolism (TE) in patients with different oncogenic aberrations and the impact of these aberrations on the efficacy of targeted therapy in patients with NSCLC.

Methods

A systemic review was conducted in Web of Science, PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library to evaluate the incidence of TE in different molecular subtypes of NSCLC. Data from patients diagnosed of advanced NSCLC who harboring anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) or ROS proto-oncogene 1 receptor tyrosine kinase (ROS1) rearrangements since 2016 to 2019 were also retrospectively collected. A meta-analysis with random-effects model, sensitivity analysis and publication bias were performed. The principal summary measure was incidence of thrombotic events in NSCLC patients. And the efficacy of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy was compared between the two subgroups.

Results

A total of 5,767 cases from 20 studies were included in the analysis of the incidence of thrombosis in patients with different oncogenic alterations. The pooled analysis showed a higher risk of thrombosis in ROS1-fusion types (41%, 95% CI: 35-47%) and ALK-fusion types (30%, 95% CI: 24-37%) than in EGFR-mutation (12%, 95% CI: 8-17%), KRAS-mutation (25%, 95% CI: 13-50%), and wild-type (14%, 95% CI: 10-20%) cases. A high prevalence of thrombosis (ALK: 24.4%; ROS1: 32.6%) was observed in the Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital (SPH) cohort of 224 patients with ALK or ROS1 fusion. Furthermore, patients with embolism had significantly shorter progression-free survival (PFS) after TKI therapy than those without embolism, both in the ALK+ cohort (5.6 vs. 12.9 months, P<0.0001) and in the ROS1+ cohort (9.6 vs. 17.6 months, P=0.0481).

Conclusions

NSCLC patients with ALK/ROS1 rearrangements are more likely to develop thrombosis than patients with other oncogenic alterations. Thrombosis may also be associated with an inferior response and PFS after TKI therapy.

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase rearrangement may increase the incidence of venous thromboembolism by increasing tissue factor expression in advanced lung adenocarcinoma

Background

Patients with lung cancer are at an increased risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE). Approximately 8–15% of patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) experience a VTE throughout the course of the disease. However, the incidence of VTE in different NSCLC molecular subtypes is rarely reported, although there are significant differences in clinical feature and prognosis. Tissue factor (TF) expressed in many solid tumors could trigger the downstream coagulation cascade and lead to thrombin generation and clot formation.

Methods

In the present study, retrospective data were obtained from electronic medical records at Henan Cancer Hospital in China between January 2015 and January 2017. Advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangement, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation and both negative were included in the present study. The incidence of VTE of these patients was calculated. We then randomly selected ALK-rearrangement-positive and -negative lung adenocarcinoma tissues (n=29 and n=26, respectively) and detected TF protein expression via immunohistochemistry.

Results

At a median follow up of 2.5 years, 5.85% (n=30/513) patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma experienced VTE. Compared to patients with EGFR mutation (n=11/218, 5.05%) or both negative (n=13/266, 4.89%), patients with ALK-rearrangement were more likely to develop VTE (n=6/29, 20.69%; P=0.006, P=0.004; respectively). In ALK-rearrangement-positive tissues, 41.67% (n=10/24) had a high TF protein expression; the incidence was significantly higher than the TF protein expression in ALK-negative tissues (11.54%, n=3/26, P=0.015).

Conclusions

ALK-rearrangement-positive NSCLC patients are more likely to develop VTE; this might be due to a higher TF expression in tumor tissues.

Impact of Tumor Genomic Mutations on Thrombotic Risk in Cancer Patients

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is common in patients with cancer and is an important contributor to morbidity and mortality in these patients. Early thromboprophylaxis initiated only in those cancer patients at highest risk for VTE would be optimal. Risk stratification scores incorporating tumor location, laboratory values and patient characteristics have attempted to identify those patients most likely to benefit from thromboprophylaxis but even well-validated scores are not able to reliably distinguish the highest-risk patients. Recognizing that tumor genetics affect the biology and behavior of malignancies, recent studies have explored the impact of specific molecular aberrations on the rate of VTE in cancer patients. The presence of certain molecular aberrations in a variety of different cancers, including lung, colon, brain and hematologic tumors, have been associated with an increased risk of VTE and arterial thrombotic events. This review examines the findings of these studies and discusses the implications of these findings on decisions relating to thromboprophylaxis use in the clinical setting. Ultimately, the integration of tumor molecular genomic information into clinical VTE risk stratification scores in cancer patients may prove to be a major advancement in the prevention of cancer-associated thrombosis.

Impact of ALK Rearrangement on Venous and Arterial Thrombotic Risk in NSCLC

INTRODUCTION

Clinical venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk prediction scores, such as the Khorana Risk Score, perform poorly in NSCLC, possibly because the tumor molecular subtype is omitted. Previous studies suggest a possible increased VTE risk in ALK-rearranged NSCLC, but data are conflicting.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients with advanced-stage NSCLC diagnosed between 2009 and 2019. Multivariable, time-to-event analyses modeling the risk of first venous or arterial thrombosis in ALK and non-ALK NSCLC groups, controlling for covariates known to impact thrombosis risk (15 in VTE model and 17 in arterial thrombosis model), were performed using Cox proportional hazards regression and competing-risks regression. Multivariable negative binomial regression modeled the total VTE rate.

RESULTS

A total of 422 patients with ALK-rearranged and 385 patients with non-ALK-rearranged NSCLC were included. Patients with an ALK rearrangement were younger, had better performance status, and had lower rates of most thrombotic risk factors but had significantly higher rates of initial VTE (42.7% versus 28.6%, p < 0.0001), recurrent VTE (13.5% versus 3.1%, p < 0.0001), and similar rates of arterial thrombosis (5.0% versus 4.4%, p = 0.71) compared with non-ALK NSCLC. VTE risk attributable to ALK was significant (Cox model: hazard ratio 3.70, [95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.51-5.44, p < 0.001], competing risks: subhazard ratio 3.91 [95% CI: 2.55-5.99, p < 0.001]). Negative binomial modeling revealed higher VTE rates in patients with an ALK rearrangement (incidence rate ratio 2.47 [95% CI: 1.72-3.55, p < 0.001]). The OR for recurrent VTE was 4.85 (95% CI: 2.60-9.52, p < 0.001). Arterial thrombosis risk attributable to ALK was significant (Cox model: hazard ratio 3.15 [95% CI: 1.18-8.37, p = 0.021], competing risks: subhazard ratio 2.80 [95% CI: 1.06-7.43, p = 0.038]).

CONCLUSIONS

In time-to-event analyses controlling for thrombosis risk factors, the ALK rearrangement conferred a fourfold increase in VTE risk and a threefold increase in arterial thrombosis risk in NSCLC. These patients may benefit from pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis.

Association of ALK rearrangement and risk of venous thromboembolism in patients with non-small cell lung cancer: A prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND

Isolated reports are inconsistent regarding the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearranged non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study examined whether ALK rearrangement could have an influence on VTE in a prospective cohort.

METHODS

In a cohort of 836 consecutive patients with NSCLC, patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or kitten rat sarcoma (KRAS) mutations were ruled out for VTE interference. Finally, 341 qualified patients were observed. The median follow up period is 7.5 months (3.1-15.4m). ALK rearrangement was detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization at baseline.

RESULTS

Overall VTE events occurred in 37 (10.9%) of 341 patients. In multivariable analysis including age, sex, tumor histology, tumor stage, performance status, and ALK status, ALK rearrangement (sub-distribution hazard radio 2.47, 95% confidence interval 1.04-5.90) was associated with the increased risk of VTE. The cumulative incidence of VTE was 26.9% and 9.2% in the patients with and without ALK rearrangement after 6 months. After 1 year the corresponding cumulative incidence was 26.9% and 9.7% respectively (Gray test P = .005).

CONCLUSIONS

The presence of ALK rearrangement is associated with increased risk of VTE in patients with NSCLC.

Cancer-associated thrombosis: The search for the holy grail continues

Cancer patients have an increased risk of developing venous thromboembolism (VTE), a condition that is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Although risk assessment tools have been developed, it is still very challenging to predict which cancer patients will suffer from VTE. The scope of this review is to summarize and discuss studies focusing on the link between genetic alterations and risk of cancer-associated thrombosis (CAT). Thus far, classical risk factors that contribute to VTE have been tried as risk factors of CAT, with low success. In support, hypercoagulant plasma profiles in patients with CAT differ from those with only VTE, indicating other risk factors that contribute to VTE in cancer. As germline mutations do not significantly contribute to elevated risk of VTE, somatic mutations in tumors may significantly associate with and contribute to CAT. As it is very time-consuming to investigate each and every mutation, an unbiased approach is warranted. In this light we discuss our own recent unbiased proof-of-principle study using RNA sequencing in isolated colorectal cancer cells. Our work has uncovered candidate genes that associate with VTE in colorectal cancer, and these gene profiles associated with VTE more significantly than classical parameters such as platelet counts, D-dimer, and P-selectin levels. Genes associated with VTE could be linked to pathways being involved in coagulation, inflammation and methionine degradation. We conclude that tumor cell-specific gene expression profiles and/or mutational status has superior potential as predictors of VTE in cancer patients.