BRAF(non-V600E) more frequently co-occurs with IDH1/2 mutations in adult patients with gliomas than in patients harboring BRAF(V600E) but without a survival advantage

BACKGROUND: The effects of BRAF(non-V600E) and BRAF(V600E) on the outcomes and the molecular characteristics of adult glioma patients are unknown and need to be explored, although BRAF(V600E) has been extensively studied in pediatric glioma. METHODS: Co-occurring mutations and copy number alterations of associated genes in the MAPK and p53 pathways were investigated using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) public database retrieved by cBioPortal. The prognosis of available adult glioma cohorts with BRAF(V600E) and BRAF(non-V600E) mutations were also investigated. RESULTS: Ninety patients with BRAF(V600E) or BRAF(non-V600E) were enrolled in this study, and data from 52 nonredundant patients were investigated. Glioblastoma multiform was the most common cancer type, with BRAF (non-V600E) and BRAF(V600E). TP53 (56.00% vs. 7.41%), IDH1/2 (36.00% vs. 3.70%), and ATRX (32.00% vs. 7.41%) exhibited more mutations in BRAF(non-V600E) than in BRAF(V600E), and TP53 was an independent risk factor (56.00% vs. 7.41%). Both BRAF(non-V600E) and BRAF(V600E) frequently overlapped with CDKN2A/2B homozygous deletions (HDs), but there was no significant difference. Survival analysis showed no difference between the BRAF (non-V600E) and BRAF(V600E) cohorts, even after excluding the survival benefit of IDH1/2 mutations and considering the BRAF(non-V600E) mutations in the glycine-rich loop (G-loop) and in the activation segment. The estimated mean survival of patients with BRAF(non-V600E) & IDH1/2(WT) with mutations in the G-loop groups was the shortest. CONCLUSIONS: BRAF(non-V600E) exhibited a stronger association with IDH1/2 mutations than BRAF(V600E), but no survival advantage was found. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12883-021-02224-6.