Correlation Between Polymorphisms of BRAF Gene and Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.

BackgroundPapillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), which accounts for 80% of all thyroid cancers, has an increasing incidence over these years. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of BRAF were considered to be one of well-established risk factors leading to development of PTC. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the common mutations of BRAF could elevate significantly the risk of PTC in a Chinese population.MethodsFour SNPs (rs11762469, rs17623204, rs1267636 and rs3748093) of BRAF were selected through our filter by Haploview 4.2 software with HapMap databases. We used the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) to genotype the four SNPs in blood samples of 618 subjects (206 patients with PTC and 412 healthy controls). The correlation between BRAF polymorphisms and PTC risk was assessed using student t-test and chi-square test.ResultsThe results showed that mutation in rs3748093 was significantly associated with an increased risk of PTC in allele model (A allele vs. T allele, OR=168, 95% CI=116-243, P=0006), dominant model (TA+AA vs TT, OR=164, 95% CI=108-248, P=0019) and homozygote model (AA vs. TT, OR=294, 95% CI=100-861, P=0040). However, the other three SNPs (rs11762469, rs17623204 and rs1267636) were shown to have no association with the risk of PTC.ConclusionsOur results indicated that polymorphism of rs3748093*A was significantly correlated with an increased risk of PTC in a Chinese population. Further investigation on the aetiological mechanism of PTC is needed to validate our results.