Survival according to BRAF-V600 tumor mutations--an analysis of 437 patients with primary melanoma

PLoS One. 2014 Jan 24;9(1):e86194. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0086194. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

The prognostic impact of BRAF-V600 tumor mutations in stage I/II melanoma patients has not yet been analyzed in detail. We investigated primary tumors of 437 patients diagnosed between 1989 and 2006 by Sanger sequencing. Mutations were detected in 38.7% of patients and were associated with age, histological subtype as well as mitotic rate. The mutational rate was 36.7% in patients with disease-free course and 51.7% in those with subsequent distant metastasis (p = 0.031). No difference in overall survival (p = 0.119) but a trend for worse distant-metastasis-free survival (p = 0.061) was observed in BRAF mutant compared to BRAF wild-type patients. Independent prognostic factors for overall survival were tumor thickness, mitotic rate and ulceration. An interesting significant prognostic impact was observed in patients with tumor thickness of 1 mm or less, with the mutation present in 6 of 7 patients dying from melanoma. In conclusion, no significant survival differences were found according to BRAF-V600 tumor mutations in patients with primary melanoma but an increasing impact of the mutational status was observed in the subgroup of patients with tumor thickness of 1 mm or less. A potential role of the mutational status as a prognostic factor especially in this subgroup needs to be investigated in larger studies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Melanoma / genetics*
  • Melanoma / mortality*
  • Melanoma / pathology
  • Melanoma / surgery
  • Melanoma, Cutaneous Malignant
  • Middle Aged
  • Mutation*
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Prognosis
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf / genetics*
  • Registries
  • Skin Neoplasms

Substances

  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf

Grants and funding

The authors have no support or funding to report.