Up to 20% of patients with pilocytic astrocytoma (PA) experience a poor outcome. BRAF alterations and Fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) point mutations are key molecular alterations in Pas, but their clinical implications are not established. We aimed to determine the frequency and prognostic role of these alterations in a cohort of 69 patients with PAs. We assessed KIAA1549:BRAF fusi...

Redifferentiation therapy with BRAF/MEK inhibitors to facilitate treatment with radioiodine represents a good choice for radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid carcinoma, but recent initial clinical outcomes were modest. MAPK rebound caused by BRAF/MEK inhibitors-induced activation of HER2/HER3 is a resistance mechanism, and combination with HER inhibitor to prevent MAPK rebound may sens...

The BRAF(V600E) mutation is commonly found in papillary thyroid cancers (PTCs) at different frequencies in different regions. However, the association between the BRAF(V600E) mutation and clinicopathological features in Chinese PTC patients is unknown. A total of 543 Chinese patients with histologically confirmed PTC were enrolled in this study. For the BRAF mutation assay, the target fragments...

The year 2011 was a breakthrough in melanoma treatment with two new targeted drugs, ipilimumab and vemurafenib, approved after showing overall survival benefit in patients with metastatic melanoma. Vemurafenib was approved only for treatment of patients with activating mutations in BRAF gene. Thus, the detection of activating BRAF mutations, which can be found in ≈50% melanomas, became a standa...

The incidence of malignant melanoma has rapidly increased in recent years. Evidence points to the role of inheritance in melanoma development, but specific genetic risk factors are not well understood. Recent reports indicate a high prevalence of somatic mutations of the BRAF gene in melanomas and melanocytic nevi. Here we report that germ-line single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in BRAF are...

BRAF and KRAS genes are known to play a similar role in the activation of RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK signaling pathway in colorectal tumorigenesis. However, BRAF-mutated colorectal cancers (CRCs) have distinct clinicopathologic characteristics different from those of the KRAS mutated ones as in comparison the BRAF-mutated CRCs are associated with a much worse prognosis for the afflicted patients. This stu...

As the increased knowledge of tumour heterogeneity and genetic alterations progresses, it exemplifies the need for further personalized medicine in modern cancer management. Here, the similarities but also the differential effects of RAS and BRAF oncogenic signalling are examined and further implications in personalized cancer diagnosis and therapy are discussed. Redundant mechanisms mediated b...

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is still one of the deadliest cancer-related diseases. About 10% of CRC patients are characterized by a mutation in the B-Raf proto-oncogene serine/threonine kinase (BRAF) gene resulting in a valine-to-glutamate change at the residue 600 (V600E). This mutation is also present in more than 60% of melanoma patients. BRAF inhibitors were developed and found to improve patie...

In papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs), rearrangements of the RET receptor (RET/PTC) and activating mutations in the BRAF or RAS oncogenes are mutually exclusive. Here we show that the 3 proteins function along a linear oncogenic signaling cascade in which RET/PTC induces RAS-dependent BRAF activation and RAS- and BRAF-dependent ERK activation. Adoptive activation of the RET/PTC-RAS-BRAF axis i...

BACKGROUND Thyroid nodules with indeterminate cytological features on fine needle aspiration biopsy specimens (FNABs) have a ~20% risk of thyroid cancer. BRAF(V600E) mutation and DNA methylation are useful markers to distinguish malignant thyroid neoplasm from benign. The aim of this study was to determine whether combined detection of BRAF(V600E) mutation and methylation markers on FNABs could...