Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Activating somatic mutation of the BRAF gene (V600E) has been identified as the most common genetic event in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) with a variable frequency (32–87%) in various races by different methods.

In this study, we report the genetic analysis of BRAF mutation in a Korean cohort of 211 PTC by peptide nucleic acid clamp real-time PCR.

Methods: PNA clamp real-time PCR was applied for BRAF analysis in 211 PTC tissues. Statistical analyses for clinicopathological findings were obtained by means of Fisher’s exact test or Student t-test.

Results: The BRAF gene was mutated in 90% of Korean TPC. The BRAF mutation occurred at a significantly higher frequency in male patients than in female patients (P=0.002). Age, tumor size and tumor stages were not correlated with BRAF mutation, while lymph node metastasis (P=0.004) and tumor multi focality (P=0.03) were correlated with BRAF mutation. Extra thyroidal invasion had tendency to correlate with BRAF mutation (P=0.058). BRAF mutation was highly occurred in all variants of PTC.

Conclusions: The present study on the BRAF mutation in Korean PTC by PNA clamp real-time PCR shows highest prevalence ever reported, and we can confirmed that this mutation is the key role in tumorigenesis of PTC. The PNA clamp real-time PCR method for the BRAF mutation detection is very sensitive test. So it can be applicable in clinical setting as with minute amount of cells by FNA.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.