We studied the frequency of BRAFV600E mutation in PTC tumor tissues from the period 1960-2007 and correlated it with clinicopathological parameters in 242 papillary, 23 sporadic medullary, one anaplastic and 6 poorly differentiated carcinomas. BRAFV600E mutations were determined using single strand conformation polymorphism method and verified by direct sequencing.
BRAFV600E mutation was detected in 81/242 PTCs (33.5%), 1/6 poorly differentiated carcinomas (16.7%) and in anaplastic carcinoma. BRAFV600E mutation was much less frequent in the follicular variant compared to classical variant (p=0.001), associated with nodal metastases (p=0.029), advanced stage (p=0.014) and recurrence (p=0.008).
It correlated with higher age (p=0.049) and tumor size (p=0.041). BRAFV600E mutation is associated with high-risk clinicopathological characteristics of PTC and worse prognosis of patients.