Research Article
B-Raf mutation and papillary thyroid carcinoma patients
LIXIN JIANG, HAIDI CHU, HAITAO ZHENG
Published:
April 01, 2016
DOI:
10.3892/ol.2016.4298
License:
Copyright: © Jiang et al.2016This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Abstract
Thyroid carcinoma is the most prevalent endocrine neoplasm globally. In the majority of thyroid carcinoma cases, a positive prognosis is predicted following administration of the appropriate treatment. A wide range of genetic alterations present in thyroid carcinoma exert their oncogenic actions partially through the activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway, with the B-Raf mutation in particular being focused on by experts for decades. The B-Raf gene has numerous mutations, however, V600E presents with the highest frequency. It is believed that the existence of the V600E mutation may demonstrate an association with the clinicopathological characteristics of patients, however, inconsistencies remain in the literature. A number of explanatory theories have been presented in order to resolve these discrepancies. Recently, it has been suggested that the V600E mutation may function as a target in a novel approach that may aid the diagnosis and prognosis of thyroid carcinoma, with a number of vying methods put forward to that effect. The current review aims to assist researchers in further understanding the possible association between B-Raf mutations and thyroid carcinoma.