BRAF and K-RAS mutation in a Greek papillary and medullary thyroid carcinoma cohort.

BACKGROUND The genes RAS and BRAF have been shown to be frequently mutated in human thyroid carcinomas. The aim of this study was to genotype a cohort of 55 sporadic papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC) and 44 sporadic medullary thyroid carcinomas (MTC) for the K-RAS codon 12 and BRAF codon 600 mutations. MATERIALS AND METHODS K-RAS and BRAF mutations were characterized by an enhanced polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (PCR-RFLP). RESULTS The K-RAS codon 12 mutation was found in 54.5% of the PTC and 40.9% of the MTC cases tested. The BRAF V600E mutation was detected in 27.3% of the PTC and 68.2% of the MTC samples. No significant association between K-RAS and BRAF mutations and clinicopathological parameters was found. CONCLUSION These data indicate that K-RAS and BRAF mutations were a frequent genetic event in our samples of sporadic PTC and MTC.