Incidence of BRAF mutations in cutaneous melanoma: histopathological and molecular analysis of a Ukrainian population

Oleksandr Dudin; Ozar Mintser; Nazarii Kobyliak; Dmytro Kaminskyi; Roman Shabalkov; Alina Matvieieva; Olga Sukhanova; Antonina Kalmykova; Denys Kozakov; Artem Mashukov; Oksana Sulaieva

doi:10.2217/mmt-2023-0005

Incidence of BRAF mutations in cutaneous melanoma: histopathological and molecular analysis of a Ukrainian population

Melanoma Manag. 2023 Dec 21;10(1):MMT64. doi: 10.2217/mmt-2023-0005. eCollection 2023 Mar.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology, Medical Laboratory CSD, Kyiv, 03022, Ukraine.
² Department of Fundamental Sciences and Informatics, Shupyk National Healthcare University of Ukraine, Keiv, 04112, Ukraine.
³ Department of Endocrinology, Bogomolets National Medical University, Kyiv, 01601, Ukraine.
⁴ Department of Oncology, International Humanitarian University, Odesa, 65009, Ukraine.

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the incidence of BRAF mutation in cutaneous melanoma in the Ukrainian population with respect to clinical and histopathological data.

Materials & methods: This single-center retrospective cohort study enrolled 299 primary CM with known BRAF status assessed by RT-PCR.

Results: The overall BRAF mutation rate was 56.5% in CM and demonstrated a link with the younger age (p < 0.001), anatomical site (p < 0.001) and histological type of CM (p = 0.022). BRAF-positive CM possessed a slightly higher mitotic rate (p = 0.015) and Breslow thickness (p = 0.028) but did not relate to tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes.

Conclusion: The high rate of BRAF mutations in CM patients in the Ukrainian cohort was associated with superficial spreading histology, higher depth of invasion and proliferation.

Keywords: BRAF-mutations; cutaneous melanoma; histological subtype; prognosis prediction.