title: Investigating KRAS/BRAF mutation in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas: a preliminary study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aims to investigate the role of KRAS/BRAF gene mutation in the pathogenesis of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 26 OSCC patients (23 males, 3 females; mean age 60 years; range 41 to 77 years) diagnosed between January 2003 and November 2013 were included in the study. The methods used in our study were quantitative fluorescence polymerase chain reaction for KRAS/BRAF mutation analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ten of the tumors were located at the tongue base, 12 in the tonsil and four at the floor of mouth. The mean tumor size was 3.8 cm. Six of the tumors were well differentiated, 18 were moderately differentiated and two were poorly differentiated. All cases were analyzed for KRAS and BRAF gene mutations and none of them showed gene mutations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We could not find any relation between OSCC and KRAS/BRAF gene mutations in our short case file. The role of mutations should be analyzed in larger series in OSCC to predict new targeted therapy modalities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, İzmir Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, 35110 Yenişehir, Konak, İzmir, Turkey. kucukulku@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Ülkü
authors.initials: Ü
authors.lastname: Küçük
authors.forename: Ümit
authors.initials: Ü
authors.lastname: Bayol
authors.forename: Elif
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Usturalı Keskin
authors.forename: Emel Ebru
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Pala
authors.forename: İbrahim
authors.initials: İ
authors.lastname: Çukurova
authors.forename: Mehmet Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Çolak
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Değirmenci
authors.forename: Özge
authors.initials: Ö
authors.lastname: Özer
authors.forename: Altuğ
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koç
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D009959:Oropharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf / Q000235:genetics*; D016283:Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras) / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C117307:KRAS protein, human; C482119:BRAF protein, human; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf; D016283:Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras)