The ALK rearrangements that are found in up to 5 % of patients with NSCLC are related to younger age, no history of smoking and distinct clinicopathological features such as adenocarcinoma histology (Shaw et al. 2009; Solomon et al. 2009; Tiseo et al. 2011; Wong et al. 2009). Here, ALK is linked to non-small cell lung carcinoma.