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Your diagnosis

Change in my ROS1 gene

How will my doctor know if I have a change in my ROS1 gene?

For your doctor to build a treatment plan with you, it’s important that they know as much about your cancer as possible. So your doctor will make sure that you have various tests and scans.

To test for the ROS1 gene, you will probably need a biopsy. You can learn more about biopsies here.

If you’d like to learn more about how changes to your genes can cause cancer, click here.

Does having a change in my ROS1 gene affect my prognosis?

Once you have learned that you have ROS1 NSCLC, you might start to wonder about how that affects your prognosis. But cancer is a very complicated disease, and many factors can play a part in how it starts and keeps growing. Because of this, it’s hard for a doctor to give anybody an exact amount of time. Factors that can affect your prognosis include:

  • Your age  
  • Your sex 
  • Your race/ethnicity  
  • Where you live and work  
  • The type of work you do  
  • Your diet  
  • Your weight  
  • If you’ve ever smoked/how much alcohol you drink 
  • Your family history of illnesses  

It’s worth knowing that ROS1+ NSCLC is considered a fairly aggressive cancer compared with other forms of NSCLC – four out of 10 people are diagnosed after the cancer has already spread to their brain.18 With regular chemotherapy, about half of people with ROS1+ NSCLC pass away around 2 years after their diagnosis.19

However, recent research has led to the discovery of treatments called ‘ROS1 inhibitors’, which are specifically designed to treat ROS1+ NSCLC.20

Clinical trials have shown that ROS1 inhibitors can help increase the time that somebody can live with ROS1+ NSCLC. Recent trials have shown that the tumours of most people with ROS1 NSCLC get smaller with a ROS1+ inhibitor treatment. And half of people are still alive and living with their cancer up to 4 years after diagnosis.20

Click on one of the options below to learn more 

Alterations

Alterations

Changes to DNA can cause some cancers to start growing. ALK+, RET+, and ROS1+ are examples of these changes.
ALK

ALK

Learn more about ALK+ NSCLC and what this means for you.
RET

RET

Discover what RET+ NSCLC means and what impact it might have on your NSCLC.
Click here to view the glossary
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid
NSCLC
Non-small cell lung cancer
ROS1+
C-ros oncogene 1

  1. Elliot J et al. PLoS One 2020; 15(2): e0229179.
  2. Cancer Research UK. Genes, DNA and cancer. 2020. Available at: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/what-is-cancer/genes-dna-and-cancer. Accessed October 2021.
  3. Davies KD and Doebele RC. Clin Cancer Res 2013; 19(15): 4040–4045.
  4. Sehgal K et al. Transl Cancer Res 2018; 7(Suppl 7): S779–S786.
  5. Park S et al. J Thorac Oncol 2018; 13(9): 1373–1382.
  6. Scheffler M et al. Oncotarget 2015; 6(12): 10577–10585.
  7. SEER cancer stat fact sheets: Lung and bronchus cancer. Available at: https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/lungb.html. Accessed October 2021.
  8. National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). NCCN clinical practice guideline in oncology: non-small cell lung cancer, Version v1 2022.
  9. Field RW, Withers BL. Clin Chest Med 2012; 33(4): 10.1016/j.ccm.2012.07.001.
  10. World Health Organization (WHO). Ambient (outdoor) air quality and health. 2018. Available at: http://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ambient-(outdoor)-air-quality-and-health. Accessed October 2021.
  11. Berrington de González A et al. J Med Screen 2008; 15(3): 153–158.
  12. Friedman DL et al. J Natl Cancer Inst 2010; 102(14): 1083–1095.
  13. American Cancer Society. Radon and cancer. 2015. Available at: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/radiation-exposure/radon.html. Accessed October 2021.
  14. Shimizu Y et al. Radiat Res 1990; 121(2): 120–141.
  15. Schwartz AG and Ruckdeschel JC. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2005; 173(1): 16–22.
  16. Shiels MS et al. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2009; 52(5): 611–622.
  17. Winstone TA et al. Chest 2013; 143(2): 305–314.
  18. Patil T et al. J Thorac Oncol 2018; 13(11): 1717–1726.
  19. Shen L et al. Cancer Med 2020; 9(10): 3310–3318.
  20. D’Angelo A et al. Cancers (Basel) 2020; 12(11): 3293.