Prevalence and Clinicopathologic Correlates of BRAFV600E Mutation in Colorectal Cancer: A 10-Year Retrospective Study at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Jos, Nigeria

Abstract

A bstract Background: The existence of v-Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B1 ( BRAF ) gene mutations in colorectal cancer (CRC) has been shown to be associated with dismal prognosis. Published reports indicate that most CRCs in Africa show aggressive behavior. In Nigeria, not much is known about the molecular basis of this aggressive biology. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the BRAF valine at codon 600 in exon 15 (V600E) mutation status of CRC cases seen at Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Nigeria, over 10 years, and correlated this with patients' clinicopathologic parameters. Materials and Methods: Immunohistochemistry for BRAFV600E mutation was done on 79 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded CRC tissue blocks to determine the presence/absence of this mutation. Outcomes were statistically evaluated with clinicopathological data. Results: There were 54 males and 25 females with CRC. The age range was from 11 to 90 years with a mean age of 49.3 ± 17.3 years. There were almost twice as many distal tumors (65.8%) as there were proximal. Adenocarcinoma, not otherwise specified, was the most common histological subtype of CRC (84.8%). BRAFV600E mutation was detected in a large proportion of subjects (51.9%), and the age group was found to show a statistically significant association ( P < 0.001) with the presence of this mutation. Conclusion: A high rate of BRAFV600E mutation in CRCs was found in the study population, particularly among younger patients. This suggests that the BRAFV600E mutation may play a significant role in the development of CRC in this population, especially in younger individuals. Further research is needed to understand the implications of these findings and potential treatment options.