Clinical implications of BRAF mutation in thyroid carcinoma.
Significant progress has recently been made in the clinical management of papillary thyroid carcinoma. The accuracy of diagnosis and prognostic stratification of this type of carcinoma are high but still fall below 100%. Lack of effective treatments for advanced stage papillary thyroid carcinoma leads to death in some patients. Approximately half of all such carcinomas harbor mutations in the gene encoding the serine/threonine-kinase B-type Raf kinase (BRAF), resulting in constitutive activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase-extracellular-signal-regulated kinases signal transduction pathway. There is intriguing evidence that BRAF mutation testing of papillary thyroid carcinoma might improve the diagnosis, prognostic stratification and treatment of these tumors but large, prospective trials are needed to define the actual clinical impact of these approaches.
Puxeddu
Efisio
E
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Perugia, Via Enrico dal Pozzo, 06126 Perugia, Italy. efisio@dimisem.med.unipg.it
Durante
Cosimo
C
Avenia
Nicola
N
Filetti
Sebastiano
S
Russo
Diego
D
D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D025202:Molecular Diagnostic Techniques; D009154:Mutation / Q000502:physiology; D011379:Prognosis; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics*; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; C482119:BRAF protein, human; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf