NTRK-A narrative review

Lung cancer diagnostics and therapeutics have witnessed a paradigm shift in the last decade because of the discovery of targetable biomarkers and rapid approvals of the corresponding targeted therapies. The prognosis of biomarker-driven tumors has improved, and hence, testing for the presence of targetable biomarkers is now a mandate according to both national and international recommendations. Apart from the common and canonical alterations in the epidermal growth factor receptor, anaplastic lymphoma kinase, and ROS1 genes, NTRK fusions, although rare, are gaining clinical importance as targetable alterations. With entrectinib and larotrectinib making their way into the phase III trials, a comprehensive knowledge about the biology, molecular diagnostic techniques, ongoing trials, and available drugs for NTRK-fusion-positive lung cancers is essential. Therefore, we performed a narrative review of the already published literature. The PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases were searched using the keywords “biology of NTRK,” “TRK,” “NTRK” and “NSCLC.” A total of 32 relevant articles were reviewed. In this review, we have described the biology, signaling pathways, detection methods, and treatment for NTRK-fusion-positive cancers.