Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death globally, accounting for approximately one in five (18.0%) of the total cancer deaths,1 and is expected to be the principal cause of death in both sexes in China and the USA in 2022.2 Recent remarkable advances in molecular targeted therapies have significantly extended the survival of patients with lung cancer harboring actionable mutations including EGFR exon 19 deletion and L858R mutations, and ALK and ROS1 rearrangements.3–7 The ROS1 oncogene, which is located on chromosome 6 (6q22), encodes protooncogene receptor tyrosine kinase ROS1. This evidence concerns the gene ALK and cancer.