title: To BRAF or not to BRAF: is that even a question anymore?
abstract: Alterations in BRAF have been discovered in most pediatric low-grade gliomas. Because the field has moved quickly during the past few years, there is not yet widespread awareness about what B-Raf normally does, how the BRAF gene is modified in gliomas, why mutant proteins promote gliomagenesis, and what an abnormal BRAF result means for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. Depending on the data from ongoing clinical trials, however, BRAF mutation screening could quickly become mandatory for all pediatric gliomas and perhaps even a subset of adult gliomas. Herein, these topics and different methods of testing for BRAF fusions and V600E point mutations are reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40536, USA. craig.horbinski@uky.edu
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Horbinski
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D002648:Child; D005910:Glioma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D017354:Point Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf / Q000235:genetics*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: C482119:BRAF protein, human; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf