These include personalized therapies [e.g., administration of tyrosine kinase or anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitors] based on genetic alterations in tumor cells in patients with lung adenocarcinomas2, and immune checkpoint blockade therapies, which have achieved promising results in NSCLC as well as melanoma and renal cell carcinoma patients3, 4. Here, ALK is linked to non-small cell lung carcinoma.