● ● ● LYMPHOID NEOPLASIA Comment on Boccalatte et al, page 2776 Unraveling ALK signaling through

In this issue of Blood, Boccalatte and colleagues report on innovative mass spectrometry – driven proteomic studies designed to determine the effect of the NPM-ALK oncogenic tyrosine kinase on the phosphoproteomic-signaling pathway of ALCL.1 The t(2;5)(p23;q35) chromosomal aberra-tion resulting in over-expression of a chi-meric oncogene, nucleophosmin-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (NPM-ALK),2 is the most common translocation found in anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). The constitu-tive activation of the oncogenic ALK tyrosine kinase induces signaling events that lead to the neoplastic phenotype of ALCL. Numerous signaling pathways downstream of NPM-ALK have been identified including phospho-lipase C (PLC), phosphatidylinositol-3