International Journal of Head and Neck Surgery

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VOLUME 5 , ISSUE 3 ( September-December, 2014 ) > List of Articles

RESEARCH ARTICLE

BRAF Mutation Correlates with Aggressive Features, Little Predictive Value

Joseph Curry, David Cognetti, Edmund Pribitkin, Andrew Quong, Colin Wynne, Kathryn Scott, David Rosen, Elizabeth Duddy

Citation Information : Curry J, Cognetti D, Pribitkin E, Quong A, Wynne C, Scott K, Rosen D, Duddy E. BRAF Mutation Correlates with Aggressive Features, Little Predictive Value. Int J Head Neck Surg 2014; 5 (3):130-134.

DOI: 10.5005/jp-journals-10001-1198

Published Online: 01-12-2015

Copyright Statement:  Copyright © 2014; The Author(s).


Abstract

Objective

With widespread and sophisticated imaging techniques, micro papillary thyroid cancers (PTCs) may be discovered prior to developing the classic pathological determinants of aggressiveness, such as extrathyroidal extent (ETE). Many studies have suggested that the V600E B-Raf proto-oncogene (BRAF) mutation can be used as a marker for aggressive disease. One objective of this study is to determine what prognostic value this mutation holds. However, nearly all of current studies have focused solely on classically aggressive tumors, not classically nonaggressive samples. This study also seeks to determine the BRAF mutation status in both the groups of tumors.

Materials and methods

Sixty-six PTC samples were tested for the V600E BRAF mutation using competitive allele-specific TaqMan probes in real-time PCR (Applied Biosystems/Life Technologies). Testing demonstrates that this assay has at least a <5% sensitivity to the mutation. Forty-five samples had at least one of four aggressive features. Samples with vascular invasion, ETE or lymph node metastasis (LNM) were also characterized as having poor prognosis.

Results

The V600E BRAF mutation was found in 27 of the 45 aggressive samples (60.0%) and 5 of the 21 nonaggressive samples. The Fisher exact test resulted in a correlation between aggressiveness and BRAF mutation as well as correlations between ETE, LNM and the BRAF mutation. When using the BRAF mutation as a predictor of prognosis based on the pathological features of aggressiveness, there was 60% sensitivity and 80% specificity.

Conclusion

The V600E BRAF mutation is correlated with pathological aggressive features, but may lack sufficient specificity or sensitivity to be used as a marker to predict outcome.

How to cite this article

Quong A, Wynne C, Curry J, Scott K, Rosen D, Cognetti D, Pribitkin E, Duddy E. BRAF Mutation Correlates with Aggressive Features, Little Predictive Value. Int J Head Neck Surg 2014;5(3):130-134.


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