Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. E-mail: j-b. Little information is available about the management of patients with BRAF- mutated nsclc , except for those included in clinical trials. We undertook the present study to assess the clinical characteristics, management, and outcomes of those patients in a real-life setting.
This retrospective multicentre observational study included all patients with BRAF- mutated nsclc diagnosed between January and December Response rate and progression-free survival were, respectively, The 2-year overall survival was In this real-world analysis, most nsclc patients with a BRAF mutation were men and current or former smokers.
Survival appears to be better in these BRAF- mutated patients than in nsclc patients without an oncogenic driver. The discovery of common oncogenic drivers such as EGFR mutations, EML—ALK fusions, and ROS1 rearrangements have led to the development of new accurate and effective targeted therapies, which have radically improved the clinical outcomes of patients harbouring those driver mutations 1.
Mutations in BRAF constitutively activate the mapk mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway, generating constant stimuli leading to cell growth and proliferation, and resistance to negative modulatory feedback signals 4 — 7.
In fact, BRAF activating mutations are responsible for structural modifications of its protein, keeping it in a permanently activated state that results in continuous activation of mek and erk 7. Not all BRAF mutations induce mapk pathway activation; some of them render the braf kinase inactive or dysfunctional 7 , 8. Other BRAF mutations have been described in nsclc , but whether all of them are oncogenic drivers is not known 9. Specific inhibitors for mutated braf dabrafenib, vemurafenib were developed and initially used to treat patients with melanoma; more recently, they have been used for patients with nsclc 11 , The prognostic significance of BRAF mutations is uncertain 13 — At least two series of patients harbouring BRAF mutations reported overall survival os and other outcomes similar to those in the general population of patients with nsclc.
