Relationship between BRAF V600E and clinical features in papillary thyroid carcinoma

<jats:sec> <jats:title>Objective</jats:title> <jats:p>To investigate the mutant status of <jats:italic>BRAF</jats:italic> gene and analyze its relationship to epidemiological risk factors and clinical outcomes among patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) in the largest, single-institution Chinese cohort to date.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Methods</jats:title> <jats:p>The medical records of 2048 PTC patients were reviewed in this retrospective study. Single-factor and multiple logistic regression analyses were applied to identify risk factors for <jats:italic>BRAF</jats:italic> V600E mutation. Survival outcomes including distant metastatic and persistent or recurrent PTC were examined, with a mean follow-up time of 23.4 (5–47) months.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Results</jats:title> <jats:p>The <jats:italic>BRAF</jats:italic> V600E mutation was present in 83.7% of patients (1715 of 2048). Correlation was found between <jats:italic>BRAF</jats:italic> V600E mutation and several epidemiological features, including age, concomitant hypertension and Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT). For the clinicopathological features, <jats:italic>BRAF</jats:italic> V600E was significantly associated with bilateral multifocality (odds ratio (OR) 1.233, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.063–1.431, <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> < 0.01) and less lateral lymph node metastases (OR 0.496, 95% CI 0.357–0.689, <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> < 0.01). Smaller tumor size and advanced disease stage were significant in single-factor analyses but became insignificant after multivariate adjustment. No association was found between <jats:italic>BRAF</jats:italic> V600E mutation and extrathyroidal invasion, distant metastatic and disease persistence or recurrence.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title> <jats:p>Part of epidemiological features are independent risk or protective factors for <jats:italic>BRAF</jats:italic> V600E mutation. The presence of <jats:italic>BRAF</jats:italic> V600E mutation is not an aggressive prognosis on poor clinical outcomes in PTC. However, the high prevalence of <jats:italic>BRAF</jats:italic> V600E may provide guidance for surgery strategy and opportunity for targeted treatment in recurrent and advanced stage disease.</jats:p> </jats:sec>