Clinicopathologic characteristics and outcomes of Chinese patients with non‐small‐cell lung cancer and BRAF mutation

Abstract

BRAF mutation is one of the important driver oncogene in non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Data on Chinese patients with BRAF‐mutant NSCLC are inadequate. Hence, we conducted this study to investigate the clinicopathologic features and outcomes of Chinese patients with NSCLC and BRAF mutations. We identified patients with BRAF‐mutant NSCLC between January 2012 and April 2016. Patient characteristics and treatment outcomes were analyzed. In total, 1680 patients were included. Twenty‐eight (1.7%) patients harbored BRAF mutations. Compared to patients with non‐BRAF mutation, patients with BRAF mutations were associated with adenocarcinomas (89.3% vs. 70.6%, P = 0.048) and never smokers (78.6% vs. 56.7%, P = 0.019). There were no significant differences in the age, gender distribution, metastasis, or stage at first diagnosis between two groups. Response rates and progression‐free survival (PFS) were similar between patient with BRAF mutations and EGFR (5.6 vs. 5.8 months; P = 0.277) or KRAS (5.6 vs. 4.7 months; P = 0.741) mutations to first‐line chemotherapy. Compared to patients with non‐V600E mutations, patients with V600E‐mutated tumors had a shorter PFS to first‐line chemotherapy, although this did not reach statistical significance (5.2 vs. 6.4 months; P = 0.561). In multivariate analyses, only ECOG PS remained the independent predictor of overall survival (HR = 0.208; P = 0.004). In conclusion, BRAF mutation in Chinese patients with NSCLC was rare. BRAF mutation is more likely to be associated with adenocarcinoma and never smokers. BRAF mutations are not associated with enhanced chemosensitivity and novel and effective drugs inhibiting the BRAF pathway are in urgent need.

Validating a targeted next-generation sequencing assay and profiling somatic variants in Chinese non-small cell lung cancer patients

“…The small number of patients in certain characteristic groups might limit the power of statistical analysis. For example, BRAF mutations are more prevalent in nonsmokers than in smokers (P = 0.019) 58 . Although we detected BRAF mutations only in nonsmokers, statistical analysis failed to show difference between nonsmokers and smokers ( Table 2), likely because only 13 smokers existed in our cohort.…”

Association between certain non–small cell lung cancer driver mutations and predictive markers for chemotherapy or programmed death‐ligand 1 inhibition

“…For advanced NSCLC patients with KRAS mutations, who were considered chemo‐resistant, PD‐(L)1 inhibitors were available and platinum‐based chemotherapy were added . BRAF mutation in Chinese NSCLC patients was rare, with patients not responding well to chemotherapy, and limited data available. Anti PD‐(L)1 was optional and taxanes might be the most sensitive chemo agents.…”

KRAS and BRAF Mutations as Prognostic and Predictive Biomarkers for Standard Chemotherapy Response in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: A Single Institutional Study

“…Over 90% of activating BRAF mutations in CRC are due to a change in the nucleotide 1799 of the exon 15, which causes a thymine to adenine change, leading to a substitution of valine by glutamate. This mutation is known as BRAF V600E mutation [25], and has been found in 100% of hairy cell leukaemias [26], in approximately 50% of melanomas [27], in 50% of papillary thyroid cancers [28,29] or in 1-3% of non-small cell lung carcinomas [30,31]. In mCRC the incidence of BRAF mutations is less than 10% [15,32]; however, BRAF V600E mutation is considered a relevant therapeutic target for mCRC management.…”