Preliminary Study on the Relationship of BRAF Mutations with the Outcome of the First 131I Radiotherapy and Malignant Biological Characteristics in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Abstract

Linjue Shangguan,1,* Peipei Zhang,1 Shengwei Fang,1 Kaili Xiang,1 Yawen Geng,1 Dingcun Luo,2,* Chunlei Zhao1,* 1Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hangzhou Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, 310002, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Tumor Surgery, Hangzhou First People’s Hospital, Hangzhou, 310006, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Chunlei ZhaoDepartment of Nuclear Medicine, Hangzhou Cancer Hospital, 34 Yanguan Lane, Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, 310002, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected] LuoDepartment of Tumor Surgery, Hangzhou First People’s Hospital, 261 Huansha Road, Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, 310000, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected]: To investigate the relationship of BRAF mutation with the outcome of the first postoperative 131I treatment and malignant biological characteristics in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).Methods: Thirty-three patients with PTC who underwent their first 131I treatment after total thyroidectomy were enrolled in this study. BRAF mutation in postoperative tumor tissue and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in peripheral blood at the time of 131I treatment were detected. According to the status of BRAF mutation, all patients were divided into 2 groups in each category of tumor tissues and ctDNA, respectively: 1) BRAF mutation, 2) BRAF wild-type. The Fisher’s exact test was performed to analyze the relationship of BRAF mutation in either tumor tissue or ctDNA with the outcome of the first 131I treatment and malignant characteristics of PTC.Results: BRAF mutation was detected in tumor tissues in 25 patients (25/33,75.8%), and all the patients had single mutation site. In ctDNA, BRAF mutation was detected in 5 patients (5/33, 15.2%), and all the patients had single mutation site. In both tumor tissues and ctDNA, BRAF mutation showed no relationship with the outcome of first 131I treatment and the malignant biological characteristics (P> 0.05).Conclusion: The value of BRAF mutation alone might be limited in predicting therapeutic outcome of the first 131I treatment in PTC. No definitive relevance was found between BRAF mutation and malignant biological features in PTC.Keywords: gene mutation, BRAF, radiotherapy, papillary thyroid carcinoma

Keywords

• gene mutation
• braf
• radiotherapy
• papillary thyroid carcinoma