Detection of BRAF mutation in Chinese tumor patients using a highly sensitive antibody immunohistochemistry assay

BRAF mutations can be found in various solid tumors. But accurate and reliable screening for BRAF mutation that is compatible for clinical application is not yet available. In this study, we used an automated immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining coupled with mouse monoclonal anti-BRAF V600E (VE1) primary antibody to screen the BRAF V600E mutation in 779 tumor cases, including 611 colorectal carcinomas (CRC), 127 papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC) and 41 malignant melanomas. Among the 779 cases, 150 cases were positive for BRAF (V600E) staining, including 38 (of 611, 6%) CRCs, 102 (of 127, 80%) PTCs and 10 (of 41, 24%) malignant melanomas. Sanger sequencing and real-time PCR confirmed the sensitivity and specificity of IHC staining for the V600E mutation are 100% and 99%, respectively. Therefore, our study demonstrates that the fully automated IHC is a reliable tool to determine BRAF mutation status in CRC, PTC and melanoma and can be used for routine clinical screen.