The role of BRAF V600E mutation as a potential marker for prognostic stratification of papillary thyroid carcinoma: a long-term follow-up study

Abstract

Papillary carcinoma is the most prevalent malignancy of thyroid gland, and its incidence has been recently increased. The BRAFV600E mutation is the most frequent genetic alteration in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). The role of BRAFV600E mutation as a potential prognostic factor has been controversially reported in different studies, with short-term follow-up. In this study, we evaluated the role of BRAFV600E mutation as a potential marker for prognostic stratification of patients with PTC in long-term follow-up. We studied 69 PTC patients with a mean follow-up period of 63.9 months (median: 60 m). The BRAFV600E mutation was analyzed by PCR-single-strand conformational polymorphism and sequencing. The correlation between the presence or absence of the BRAFV600E mutation, clinicopathological features and prognosis of PTC patients were studied. The BRAFV600E mutation was found in 28 of 69 (40.6%) PTC patients, and it was significantly more frequent in older patients (p < 0.001), in advanced tumor stages (p = 0.006) and in patients with history of radiation exposure (p = 0.037). Incomplete response to treatment in PTC patients was significantly correlated with certain clinicopathological characteristics (follow-up time, distant metastases, advanced stage, first thyroglobulin (fTg) level, history of reoperation and external radiotherapy and delay in iodine therapy) but it was not related to the presence of BRAFV600E mutation. Prevalence of BRAFV600E mutation was 40.6% in patients with papillary thyroid cancer in northeast of Iran. The BRAFV600E mutation was associated with older age and advanced tumor stage but was not correlated with incomplete response during follow-up.