Emerging and Evolving Biomarkers: NTRK

This content was created in 2020, but has been reviewed and approved by the Training & Education Committee as useful, accurate, and relevant. Please note that in the time since this material was posted, there may have been additional developments, advancements, and/or more current publications in this field.

AMP Education is constantly updating our educational offerings, and will remove or replace content that is no longer accurate. Please be sure to use the search function to find related or updated material available in our catalogue at educate.amp.org. The Training and Education Committee works with AMP Education Programs to bring you the most up-to-date and cutting-edge information on molecular pathology research, applications, and training.

This webinar does not contain continuing education credit (CME and CMLE) 

Speaker: Lynette Sholl, MD	Moderator: Lauren Ritterhouse, MD, PhD

Description:

Neurotrophic receptor kinase genes 1, 2 and 3 (NTRK1, NTRK2, NTKR3) encode proteins (tropomyosin receptor kinases TRKA, TRKB, and TRKC respectively) essential for neurodevelopment and neuronal function. These genes have recently been implicated as oncogenic drivers across diverse adult and pediatric tumors as a result of chromosomal rearrangement events that fuse a 5’ partner gene with the 3’ portion of an NTRK gene including the kinase domain. These fusions, while rare, predict clinical response to targeted TRK inhibitors and provide an important therapeutic avenue for patients who often have few alternative treatment options. The biology, epidemiology, and clinicopathologic correlations of NTRK fusions, as well as testing strategies to optimize detection of these fusions in practice, will be addressed in this presentation.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the biological principles that underlie the pathogenicity of each biomarker, including the cellular signaling pathways and cellular processes involved.
• Discuss the appropriate technical approaches and platforms for molecular diagnostic testing for fusion detection and rare diseases.
• Outline the strengths and limitations of described testing approaches.
• Apply biomarker information so as to order appropriate testing and interpret biomarker status results within a clinical context.

Supported by an educational grant from Lilly (for further information concerning Lilly grant funding visit www.lillygrantoffice.com), which had no control over its content. No personally-identifiable information regarding you is provided to any grant supporters.

No digital files may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic or mechanical. By purchasing a product, you agree to not share any of the course materials, including videos, downloadable slide presentations, outlines, manuscripts, etc. without explicit and written permission from AMP.