The Clinicopathological Features of BRAF Mutated Papillary Thyroid Cancers in Chinese Patients.

Abstract

The BRAFV600E mutation is commonly found in papillary thyroid cancers (PTCs) at different frequencies in different regions. However, the association between the BRAFV600E mutation and clinicopathological features in Chinese PTC patients is unknown. A total of 543 Chinese patients with histologically confirmed PTC were enrolled in this study. For the BRAF mutation assay, the target fragments were amplified and sequenced with an ABI 3500 gene analyzer. In 170 of 543 samples (31.3%), the BRAFV600E mutation was detected. In the bivariate analysis, the BRAFV600E mutation showed an association with bilaterality, tumor size, extrathyroidal invasion, and lymph node metastases (LNM). However, in the multivariate analysis, the BRAFV600E mutation was positively related to only tumor size (>1 cm) and extrathyroidal invasion. In addition, the multivariate analysis also showed that the age at diagnosis (<45 y) and tumor size (>1 cm) were independent predictors for LNM. In this study, the BRAFV600E mutation is positively associated with worse prognostic factors, including larger tumor size and the tumor extending to the thyroid capsule or extrathyroidal region; however, it is not an independent predictor for LNM.