Similarly, in pursuit of an accurate diagnostic and prognostic assay, an alternative approach utilizing Broncheoalveolar Lavage (BAL) fluid taken from 50 resectable NSCLC patients and a molecular diagnostic PCR-based screening approach identified 28 patients expressing mutant-p53 in stages I-IIIA of tumor progression [139]. Here, TP53 is linked to non-small cell lung carcinoma.