Fast fluorescence in situ hybridisation for the enhanced detection of MET in non-small cell lung cancer

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 10; p. e0223926
• Main Authors: Duncan, David Jonathan, Vandenberghe, Michel Erminio, Scott, Marietta Louise Juanita, Barker, Craig
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 15.10.2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Accuracy; Biology and Life Sciences; Breast cancer; c-Met protein; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - genetics; Cell growth; Chromosomes; Clinical trials; Copy number; Drug therapy; Female; Fluorescence; Fluorescence in situ hybridization; Gene Amplification; Gene Dosage; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genetic research; Germany; Growth factor receptors; Growth factors; Hepatocyte growth factor; Humans; Hybridization; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence - methods; Kinases; Lung cancer; Lung diseases; Lung Neoplasms - genetics; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; MET protein; Metastasis; Molecular Targeted Therapy; Mutation; Non-small cell lung cancer; Non-small cell lung carcinoma; Oncology; Patients; Precision Medicine; Probes; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met - genetics; R&D; Research & development; Research and Analysis Methods; Small cell lung cancer; Small cell lung carcinoma; Time Factors; Tumors; Germany; United Kingdom > UK; Denmark; England
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223926

The c-Met/hepatocyte growth factor receptor pathway is frequently dysregulated in multiple cancer types, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). MET amplification has been shown to develop as a resistance mechanism to treatment in NSCLC. The identification of increased MET copy number within tumour cells is increasingly important to stratify those tumours and patients which are susceptible to treatment targetting MET kinase inhibition. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) has been successfully employed to identify patients with abnormal MET gene copy number with numerous probes available for use. Here we report a FISH protocol that reduces probe hybridisation time in NSCLC tissue to 1 hour and compare the results with other protocols. MET gene copy number was determined in 20 NSCLC cases using 3 FISH probes: 1. Kreatech FISH, MET (7q31) SE 7 ready to use probes, hybridised using an overnight protocol; 2. Dako MET IQFISH probe with CEP7 ready to use probe, hybridised for 2 hours; 3. Kreatech MET (7q31) SE 7 XL FISH probe, prepared in SwiftFISH buffer and hybridised for 1 hour. The MET gene copy number and MET: centromere 7 gene ratio were determined for each tissue and cases categorised as having MET high or MET low status. All three FISH probes were shown to demonstrate good agreement with each other. Overall percentage agreement between probes was ≥90%. Intraclass correlation showed good agreement (ICC ≥0.80) between all three assays for MET gene copy number and MET: centromere 7 gene ratio. These FISH protocols provide evidence that rapid laboratory developed FISH assays with short turnaround time perform consistently with standard protocols, potentially enabling faster treatment decisions.