Association between BRAF and RAS mutations, and RET rearrangements and the clinical features of papillary thyroid cancer.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the significance of BRAF (V600E) and Ras mutations, and RET rearrangements in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) in the South central region of China. METHODS We included patients from Union hospital's pathology archive diagnosed with PTC and meeting the criteria for BRAF mutation, RAS mutation, and RET rearrangement testing. Medical records were analyzed for BRAF and RAS mutation status, RET rearrangements (positive or negative), and a list of standardized clinicopathologic features. RESULTS Positive BRAF mutation was found to be significantly associated with age and extrathyroidal extension (P=0.011 and P=0.013, respectively). However, there was no significant association between BRAF mutation and sex, tumor size, histological subtype, multifocality, or accompanying nodular goiter and Hashimoto's. On the other hand, none of these characteristics of PTC were been found to be associated with RAS mutation. Additionally, the frequency of RET rearrangements was higher in patients ≤45 years old than that in patients >45 years old. CONCLUSIONS We demonstrated that the BRAF (V600E) mutation slightly correlated with the clinicopathological characteristics of PTC in the Han population. Furthermore, neither RAS mutation nor RET rearrangements were found to be associated with the clinicopathological characteristics of PTCs. Our work provides useful information on somatic mutations to predict the risk of PTC in different ethnic groups.