INTRODUCTION Since introduction of BRAF and MEK inhibition therapy, there has been a significant improvement in response rates, overall survival, and progression-free disease in melanoma patients. Combined BRAF and MEK inhibition, compared with BRAF inhibition alone, has shown to delay the emergence of resistance in patients suffering from BRAF V600emutated advanced melanoma. It has become the ...

The NRAS and BRAF genes are frequently mutated in melanoma, suggesting that the NRAS-BRAF-MEK-ERK signaling pathway is an important target for therapy. Two classes of drugs, one targeting activated BRAF and one targeting MEK, are currently undergoing clinical evaluation. We have analysed the NRAS and BRAF mutational status of a series of 44 early passage lines developed from New Zealand patient...

Purpose: Many patients with BRAFV600E mutant melanoma treated with BRAF inhibitors experience a rapid response, but ultimately develop resistance. Insight into the mechanism of resistance is critical for development of more effective treatment strategies.Experimental Design: Comprehensive genomic profiling of serial biopsies was performed in a patient with a BRAFV600E mutant metastatic melanoma...

BACKGROUND Mutation of BRAF is a predominant event in cancers with poor prognosis such as melanoma and colorectal cancer. BRAF mutation leads to a constitutive activation of mitogen activated protein kinase pathway which is essential for cell proliferation and tumor progression. Despite tremendous efforts made to target BRAF for cancer treatment, the correlation between BRAF mutation and patien...

BACKGROUND Melanoma is characterized by a high frequency of BRAF mutations. It is unknown if the BRAF mutation status has any predictive value for therapeutic approaches such as angiogenesis inhibition. PATIENTS AND METHODS We used 2 methods to analyze the BRAF mutation status in 52 of 62 melanoma patients. Method 1 (mutation-specific real-time PCR) specifically detects the most frequent BRAF...

A cquired resistance is the most common cause of BRAF inhibitor monotherapy treatment failure, with the majority of patients experiencing disease progression with a median progression-free survival of 6-8 months. As such, there has been considerable focus on combined therapy with dual BRAF and MEK inhibition as a means to improve outcomes compared with monotherapy. In the COMBI-d and COMBI-v tr...

BACKGROUND BRAF V600E mutation is associated with poor prognosis in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). PTC is often multifocal, and there are no guidelines on how many tumors to test for BRAF mutation in multifocal PTC. METHODS Fifty-seven separate formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded PTCs from twenty-seven patients were manually macrodissected and tested for BRAF mutation using...

Pediatric low-grade gliomas (PLGGs) are frequently associated with activating BRAF gene fusions, such as KIAA1549-BRAF, that aberrantly drive the mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. Although RAF inhibitors (RAFi) have been proven effective in BRAF-V600E mutant tumors, we have previously shown how the KIAA1549-BRAF fusion can be paradoxically activated by RAFi. While newer classes o...

Background. Molecular diagnostics has offered new techniques for searching for mutations in thyroid indeterminate lesions. The study's aim was to evaluate the BRAF mutations' incidence in an Italian regional population. Subjects and Methods. 70 Caucasian patients born in Liguria with indeterminate or suspicious cytological diagnoses. Results. A BRAF gene mutation was successfully analyzed in 56...