title: Correlation between BRAF mutation and the clinicopathological parameters in papillary thyroid carcinoma with particular reference to follicular variant.
abstract: Mutation of the BRAF gene is common in thyroid cancer. Follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma is a variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma that has created continuous diagnostic controversies among pathologists. The aims of this study are to (1) investigate whether follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma has a different pattern of BRAF mutation than conventional papillary thyroid carcinoma in a large cohort of patients with typical features of follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma and (2) to study the relationship of clinicopathological features of papillary thyroid carcinomas with BRAF mutation. Tissue blocks from 76 patients with diagnostic features of papillary thyroid carcinomas (40 with conventional type and 36 with follicular variant) were included in the study. From these, DNA was extracted and BRAF V600E mutations were detected by polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction enzyme digestion and sequencing of exon 15. Analysis of the data indicated that BRAF V600E mutation is significantly more common in conventional papillary thyroid carcinoma (58% versus 31%, P = .022). Furthermore, the mutation was often noted in female patients (P = .017), in high-stage cancers (P = .034), and in tumors with mild lymphocytic thyroiditis (P = .006). We concluded that follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma differs from conventional papillary thyroid carcinoma in the rate of BRAF mutation. The results of this study add further information indicating that mutations in BRAF play a role in thyroid cancer development and progression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Griffith Medical School, Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast QLD 4222, Australia.
authors.forename: Robert Anthony
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salajegheh
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Weinstein
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nassiri
authors.forename: Alfred King-Yin
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Lam
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001483:Base Sequence; D018265:Carcinoma, Papillary, Follicular / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf / Q000235:genetics*; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D013967:Thyroiditis, Autoimmune / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C482119:BRAF protein, human; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf