Identification of Independent Primary Tumors and Intrapulmonary Metastases Using DNA Rearrangements in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Differentiating a primary lung cancer from an intrapulmonary metastasis can be challenging.  The authors developed a lineage test using whole genome amplification and next-generation sequencing to identify breakpoints in known primary tumors and known metastases.  Independent primary tumors did not share any genomic rearrangements, whereas primary tumors and their known metastases all had shared rearrangements.  This type of analysis may enable pathologists to distinguish primary lung tumors from intrapulmonary mets.