Association of BRAF V600E mutation with tumor recurrence in a small sample of Filipino patients with papillary thyroid cancer in a single center

Background and Objective@#Epidemiological studies have shown that Filipinos have a higher prevalence of welldifferentiated thyroid cancer and a higher rate of recurrence. The BRAF V600E mutation has been proposed as a potential prognostic marker in aggressive papillary thyroid cancers. In this study, we determined whether this mutation is a risk factor for tumor recurrence in papillary thyroid cancer among Filipinos.@*Methods@#We conducted an age and sex-matched case-control study of patients with papillary thyroid cancer; we had two groups – with and without tumor recurrence – of 14 patients each, with at least a 5-year follow-up. We extracted the DNA samples from the patients’ (paraffin-embedded) tumor biopsy tissue blocks from thyroidectomy specimens, then detected the BRAF V600E mutation using polymerase chain reaction. The McNemar’s test for difference of proportions in paired data was used to determine the association of BRAF V600E mutation with recurrence. @*Results@#The BRAF V600E mutation was found in 57.14% of all cases. We found a prevalence of 64.29% among those with recurrence and 50.00% among those without recurrence, with no significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.688).@*Conclusion@#Our study showed the BRAF V600E mutation was not associated with recurrence. We encountered several limitations: we had limited data regarding molecular methodologies in the Philippine setting, we had a small sample size, and therefore we could not study other parameters (e.g., tumor characteristics, lymph node metastasis, stage of disease). We hope that this paves the way for future studies and collaborations to establish the role of BRAF V600E in Filipinos with papillary thyroid tumor recurrence.

Pattern and predictors of locoregional failure in locally advanced breast cancer following neoadjuvant chemotherapy and modified radical mastectomy with or without radiotherapy: Retrospective cohort analysis of patients in a Tertiary Hospital Breast Center

Objective@#The study aimed to identify the pattern and clinicopathologic factors associated with locoregional failure (LRF) in locally-advanced breast cancer (LABC) patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and modified radical mastectomy (MRM) with or without adjuvant radiotherapy (RT).@*Methods@#Retrospective cohort analysis of LABC patients who developed LRF following NAC and MRM with or without RT in the Breast Care Center, Philippine General Hospital from 2007-2010 was done. Clinicopathologic and treatment factors were compared between patients who developed and did not develop recurrence using Student's t-tests and Chi-square tests and logistic regression analysis, with p values ≤0.05 considered significant.@*Results@#A total of 63 patients were included, 34 with locoregional recurrence (LR) and 29 without. Two-year locoregional recurrence rate (LRR) was 54% with mean time to recurrence at 263 days and chest wall as most common site. Simple logistic regression analysis showed age distribution, pathologic nodal status (pN), percentage positive pathologic lymph nodes, pathologic stage, lymphovascular invasion, and adjuvant RT to be predictors of LR. Furthermore, pN (OR 1.31, CI 1.07-1.59, p=0.01) and adjuvant RT (OR 0.14, CI 0.04-0.53, p=0.004) were independent predictors of LR on multiple logistic regression analysis. In the subset of patients without adjuvant RT, no independent predictor of LR was found on multiple logistic regression analysis.@*Conclusion@#Among patients with LABC who received NAC and MRM, locoregional recurrence occurred frequently, usually in the chest wall and within a year of treatment. The absence of adjuvant radiotherapy and increased number of positive pathologic lymph nodes were predictive of locoregional recurrence.