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. 2015 Nov 24;6(37):39607-13.
doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.5551.

Molecular pathological epidemiology of colorectal cancer in Chinese patients with KRAS and BRAF mutations

Wenbin Li  1 , Tian Qiu  1 , Yun Ling  1 , Lei Guo  1 , Lin Li  1 , Jianming Ying  1
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Free PMC article

Molecular pathological epidemiology of colorectal cancer in Chinese patients with KRAS and BRAF mutations

Wenbin Li et al. Oncotarget. .
Free PMC article

Abstract

An investigation of interactive effects of exogenous and endogenous factors and tumor molecular changes can lead to a better understanding of tumor molecular signatures in colorectal cancer. We here report a molecular pathological epidemiology study in a large cohort of 945 colorectal cancer patients. Mutations of KRAS (36.6%) and BRAF (3.46%) were nearly mutually exclusive. KRAS-mutated tumors were more common in female patients (odds ratio [OR] = 1.68; P = 0.0001) and never smokers (OR = 1.60; P = 0.001). Whereas BRAF-mutated tumors demonstrated no discrepancy in aspects of gender and smoking status compared with wild-type tumors. In addition, tumors with BRAF or KRAS mutations were in correlation with elevated serum level of carbohydrate antigen (CA19-9) and carcinoma embryonic antigen (CEA) and the combination of serum biomarkers and molecular mutation status may enhance the more precise risk stratification of CRC patients. Further studies are needed to define the mechanism brought about by the aforementioned epidemiologic and clinicopathologic characteristics that may help optimize cancer prevention and precision therapy.

Keywords: BRAF; KRAS; colorectal cancer; molecular pathological epidemiology; mutation.

Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Forest plots of univariate logistic model associations with KRAS A. and BRAFV600E B. mutation status features
P values are for two-sided Pearson χ2 test. CI = confidence interval; dMMR = deficient mismatch repair; LCL = lower confidence limit; UCL = upper confidence limit; OR = odds ratio.
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