BioCentury
ARTICLE | Distillery Techniques

Biomarkers

August 23, 2018 5:06 PM UTC

TrkB fusion oncogenes and mutations could help predict sensitivity to the TrkA/TrkB/TrkC inhibitor larotrectinib in patients with blood cancers. Genomic sequencing of 7,311 patients with hematologic malignancies identified one TrkA, one TrkB and two TrkC fusion oncogenes not previously reported or functionally evaluated. In mouse bone marrow cells expressing each fusion, larotrectinib decreased colony formation compared with normal TrkA, TrkB and TrkC expression. In a refractory secondary AML patient harboring the identified TrkB mutation, ETV6, larotrectinib led to a partial response. Next steps could include screening patients for the mutations to receive larotrectinib...