ALK and thyroid gland carcinoma: It is not surprising that mutations in these genes are not common in thyroid cancer since a number of the upstream effectors involved in cellular transformation, growth and metastasis, including EGFR, RET/PTC, ALK, RAS, BRAF, PTEN, PIK3CA, PIK3CB and PDK1, are commonly genetically altered via mutations or genetic amplifications that are able to independently activate the MAPK or PI3K/Akt pathways in thyroid cancer (3,4,16,18,19).