title: BRAF-V600E is not involved in the colorectal tumorigenesis of HNPCC in patients with functional MLH1 and MSH2 genes.
abstract: Recently, it was shown that the oncogenic activation of BRAF, a member of the RAS/RAF family of kinases, by the V600E mutation is characteristic for sporadic colon tumors with microsatellite instability. Further, it was shown to associate with the silencing of the mismatch repair (MMR) gene MLH1 by hypermethylation. Moreover, BRAF mutations proved to be absent in tumors from hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer syndrome (HNPCC) families with germline mutations in the MMR genes MLH1 and MSH2. These data suggest that the oncogenic activation of BRAF is involved only in sporadic colorectal tumorigenesis. In order to further support this hypothesis, we have extended the analysis of the BRAF gene to a different subset of HNPCC families without germline mutations in MLH1 and MSH2. BRAF-V600E mutations were analysed by automatic sequencing in 38 tumors from HNPCC families with germline mutations in the MSH6 gene and also in HNPCC (suspected) families that do not have mutations in the MMR genes MLH1, MSH2 and MSH6. All patients belong to different families. No mutations were detected in 14 tumors from HNPCC patients with germline mutations in MSH6. Further, no mutations of BRAF were found in tumors from 23 MMR-negative families, from which 13 fulfilled the Amsterdam criteria (HNPCC) and 10 were suspected for HNPCC as they were positive for the Bethesda criteria. Overall, our data reinforce the concept that BRAF is not involved in the colorectal tumorigenesis of HNPCC. The detection of a positive BRAF-V600E mutation in a colorectal cancer suggests a sporadic origin of the disease and the absence of germline alterations of MLH1, MSH2 and also of MSH6. These findings have a potential impact in the genetic testing for HNPCC diagnostics and suggest a potential use of BRAF as exclusion criteria for HNPCC or as a molecular marker of sporadic cancer.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Oncology and Aging Research, Centre d'Investigacions en Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular (CIBBIM), Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Passeig Vall d'Hebron 119-129, Barcelona 08035, Spain.
authors.forename: Enric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Domingo
authors.forename: Renée C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Niessen
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Pia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Alhopuro
authors.forename: Catia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moutinho
authors.forename: Eloi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Espín
authors.forename: Manel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Armengol
authors.forename: Rolf H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Sijmons
authors.forename: Jan H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kleibeuker
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Seruca
authors.forename: Lauri A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Aaltonen
authors.forename: Kohzoh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Imai
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Simó
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.forename: Robert M W
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Hofstra
mesh_terms: D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D003123:Colorectal Neoplasms, Hereditary Nonpolyposis / Q000235:genetics*; D019175:DNA Methylation; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D000070956:MutL Proteins; D051718:MutS Homolog 2 Protein; D020125:Mutation, Missense; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf / Q000235:genetics*; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; C088996:PMS1 protein, human; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; C482119:BRAF protein, human; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf; C497172:MSH2 protein, human; D000070956:MutL Proteins; D051718:MutS Homolog 2 Protein