Association of BRAF V600E immunoexpression with clinicopathological variant groups in papillary thyroid carcinoma

The detection of BRAF V600E immunoexpression in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is extremely important because of its association with poor prognosis. Is poor prognosis really associated with all histological variants of thyroid papillary carcinoma? To contribute to this elucidation, using the BRAF V600E mutation-specific antibody, the present study was performed to determine the association between BRAF V600E immunoexpression and clinicopathological variant groups of PTC. Tumour tissue samples collected from 95 patients with papillary thyroid cancer and tumour size <3.5 cm in diameter were processed by routine microscopic technique and using Ventana Benchmark XT automated stainer. BRAF V600E immunoexpression in the group of the aggressive clinicopathological group is directly proportional to lymph node and distal metastasis (p=0.005) in contrast to the favourable clinicopathological group. Finally, the lymph nodal and distal metastasis (poor prognosis) of the aggressive clinicopathological group of PTC can be better predicted when combining BRAF V600E immunostaining with conventional histopathological technique, conversely, these results could not be achieved in the favourable clinicopathological group. These findings suggest that BRAF V600E immunoexpression is a potential candidate for the prognosis of the aggressive clinicopathological group.