OBJECTIVETo study the prevalence of the BRAF V600E mutation in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and its association with clinicopathologic features.

METHODSTwo hundred and ninety-two patients with primary PTC encountered during the period from December 2010 to December 2012 and underwent surgery in Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science were enrolled into the study. Polymerase chain reaction was used to amplify exon 15 of the BRAF gene from paraffin-embedded thyroid tumor specimens, followed by direct sequencing to detect the BRAF V600E mutation. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS 16.0 for Windows. Association between BRAF mutation and clinicopathologic parameters was tested with the χ(2) test or Fisher exact test as appropriate.

RESULTSThere were 87 males and 205 females in the cohort. The age of patients ranged from 13 to 84 years (mean = 43.1 years). BRAF V600E mutation was found in 190 cases (65.1%). The presence of BRAF V600E mutation correlated with age at diagnosis (older than 45 years), tumor volume (larger than 1 cm), extrathyroidal extension, classic type/tall-cell variant and advanced disease stage (P < 0.05). BRAF V600E mutation did not correlate significantly with gender, multicentricity, lymph node metastasis or anatomic location (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONBRAF V600E mutation is associated with high-risk clinicopathologic characteristics in patients with PTC. The BRAF V600E mutation may be a potential prognostic factor in PTC patients.