Association of BRAF V600E allele frequency with clinicopathologic outcomes in papillary thyroid cancer.

Context: BRAF V600E mutation is the most common genetic driver of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), where it is found with various allele frequency (AF), reflecting the proportion of cells carrying the mutant and wild-type gene alleles.

Objective: To determine whether BRAF V600E AF can improve prognostication and inform initial surgical management of PTC.

Design: Retrospective cohort study (2016-2019).

Setting: UCLA health.

Patients: Consecutive patients with Bethesda V/VI nodules and isolated BRAF V600E mutation who underwent surgery with histopathology showing PTC.

Interventions: Blinded ThyroSeq v3 molecular analysis after completion of initial management and follow-up.

Main outcomes measures: Aggressive histopathology and cancer persistence/recurrence.

Results: Of 73 patients, the median BRAF V600E AF was 25.5% (IQR, 16.7-34.3%). Higher median AF was seen in patients classified as American Thyroid Association (ATA) high-risk (37%) vs. intermediate-risk (25.3%, p<0.01) and low-risk (24.7%, p<0.01), largely attributed to higher AF in patients with gross extrathyroidal extension (ETE) (40.1% vs. 25.2% without gross ETE, p=0.02). No differences in AF were observed on the basis of lymph node positivity or presence of aggressive variants of PTC. A higher BRAF V600E AF was also found in patients with tumors ≥2cm vs. <2cm (median 32.0% vs. 24.4%, p<0.01). Over 4.1 years of follow-up, disease persistence/recurrence was found in 7 patients (9.4%) and was associated with higher median AF than those without recurrence (35.3% vs. 25.2%, p=0.02). Higher AF was associated with poorer recurrence-free survival (AF≥35%, HR 7.40, CI 1.4-38.1).

Conclusions: Higher AF was associated with gross ETE and increased recurrence risk. This may inform initial management in patients with PTC harboring an isolated BRAF V600E mutation.