Patent ID: 8486645

Claim:
A method for detecting the presence of a mutant Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) polypeptide in a circulating tumor cell, said method comprising the steps of: (a) obtaining a circulating tumor cell from a patient having cancer; (b) utilizing at least one reagent that detects a mutant ALK polypeptide, to determine whether a mutant ALK polypeptide is present in said circulating tumor cell, wherein said mutant ALK polypeptide is an Echinoderm Microtubule-Associated Protein-like 4 (EML4)-ALK fusion polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 95% identity to (i) SEQ ID NO: 1, (ii) SEQ ID NO: 18, or (iii) an amino acid sequence which comprises residues 1-222 of SEQ ID NO: 3 and residues 1116-1383 of SEQ ID NO: 5.