ALK and cancer: We previously discovered that the echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4)-ALK fusion oncoprotein that is present recurrently in lung cancer and other cancer subtypes is exquisitely dependent upon RAS GTPase activation and downstream RAF/MEK/ERK (MAPK pathway) signaling for its oncogenic output (Hrustanovic et al., 2015).