BRAF mutations in patients with non-small cell lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PLoS One. 2014 Jun 30;9(6):e101354. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0101354. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Background: BRAF mutations have been well described in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for several years, but the clinical features of patients harboring BRAF mutations are still not well described. We performed a meta-analysis to identify common clinical features in NSCLC patients carrying BRAF mutations.

Methods: We identified clinical studies that examined the association between BRAF mutations and features of NSCLC within PubMed, Embase and ISI Science Citation Index database up to October 2013. The effect size of clinical features was estimated by odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for each study, using a fixed-effects or random-effects model.

Results: Ten studies with a total of 5599 NSCLC patients were included. There was a 3% (170/5599) BRAF mutation rate. BRAF mutations in NSCLC were significantly associated with adenocarcinomas (ADCs) (compared with non-ADCs, OR = 4.96, 95%CI = 2.29-10.75). There were no significant differences in gender, smoking and stage in patients with and without BRAF mutations. The BRAFV600E mutation was more frequent in women than non-BRAFV600E mutations (OR = 0.27, 95%CI = 0.12-0.59), and was closely related to never smokers (OR = 0.14, 95%CI = 0.05-0.42).

Conclusions: These findings have important implications for the prediction of the NSCLC sub-types more accurately combined with other genetic changes.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review
  • Systematic Review

MeSH terms

  • Adenocarcinoma / genetics*
  • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / genetics*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Lung Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Male
  • Mutation, Missense*
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf / genetics*

Substances

  • BRAF protein, human
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf

Grants and funding

This work was supported in part by grants from the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (National 863 Program, No. 2011AA02A121 and 2013AA020204) the Preferential Foundation of Science and Technology Activities for Students Studying Abroad of Chongqing (No. YuLiuZhu201201), the Project Sponsored by the Scientific Research Foundation for Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars of the State Education Ministry. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.