title: BRAF mutations in patients with non-small cell lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  BRAF mutations have been well described in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for several years, but the clinical features of patients harboring BRAF mutations are still not well described. We performed a meta-analysis to identify common clinical features in NSCLC patients carrying BRAF mutations.
  
  
  METHODS
  We identified clinical studies that examined the association between BRAF mutations and features of NSCLC within PubMed, Embase and ISI Science Citation Index database up to October 2013. The effect size of clinical features was estimated by odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for each study, using a fixed-effects or random-effects model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ten studies with a total of 5599 NSCLC patients were included. There was a 3% (170/5599) BRAF mutation rate. BRAF mutations in NSCLC were significantly associated with adenocarcinomas (ADCs) (compared with non-ADCs, OR = 4.96, 95%CI = 2.29-10.75). There were no significant differences in gender, smoking and stage in patients with and without BRAF mutations. The BRAFV600E mutation was more frequent in women than non-BRAFV600E mutations (OR = 0.27, 95%CI = 0.12-0.59), and was closely related to never smokers (OR = 0.14, 95%CI = 0.05-0.42).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings have important implications for the prediction of the NSCLC sub-types more accurately combined with other genetic changes.
authors: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, PR China.
authors: Dong
authors: D
authors: Chen
authors: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, PR China.
authors: Li-Qun
authors: LQ
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, PR China.
authors: Jun-Fu
authors: JF
authors: Huang
authors: Research Center for Nutrition and Food Safety, Institute of Military Preventive Medicine, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, PR China.
authors: Kai
authors: K
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, PR China.
authors: Zheng-Ran
authors: ZR
authors: Chuai
authors: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, PR China.
authors: Zhao
authors: Z
authors: Yang
authors: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, PR China.
authors: Yun-Xia
authors: YX
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, PR China.
authors: Da-Chuan
authors: DC
authors: Shi
authors: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, PR China.
authors: Qian
authors: Q
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, PR China.
authors: Qing
authors: Q
authors: Huang
authors: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, PR China.
authors: Wei-Ling
authors: WL
authors: Fu
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D020125:Mutation, Missense; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C482119:BRAF protein, human; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf