Survival comparison of first-line treatment regimens in patients with braf-mutated advanced colorectal cancer: a multicenter retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Patients with V-Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B1 (BRAF) V600E-mutated advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) have a poor prognosis, and treatment options that can improve outcome are still under investigation. The purpose of this study was to discuss the differences of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) between patients with BRAF V600E-mutated advanced CRC who were treated with chemotherapy alone and chemotherapy combined with targeted therapy in advanced first-line therapy. METHODS: Grouping of 61 patients according to first-line treatment regimen (chemotherapy alone/chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab). Kaplan–Meier method and log-rank test were used to compare OS and PFS. Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to measure the risk of first-line medication therapies while correcting for confounding factors that may affect PFS and OS. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in OS between patients treated with chemotherapy alone and those treated with chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab (P = 0.93; HR, 1.027; 95% CI, 0.555–1.901). Likewise, there was no significant difference in PFS between the two groups (P = 0.29; HR, 0.734; 95% CI, 0.413–1.304). Subgroup analysis showed that OS and PFS of different treatment regimens were not significantly different among subgroups. Multivariate analysis suggested that surgical treatment of primary tumor (P = 0.001; HR, 0.326; 95% CI, 0.169–0.631) and presence of liver metastasis (P = 0.009; HR, 2.399; 95% CI, 1.242–4.635) may serve as independent prognostic indicators in patients with BRAF-mutated advanced CRC. Surgical treatment of the primary tumor (P = 0.041; HR, 0.523; 95% CI, 0.280–0.974) was significantly associated with PFS too. CONCLUSION: For patients with BRAF V600E-mutated advanced CRC, chemotherapy alone did not differ significantly in OS and PFS compared with chemotherapy + bevacizumab for advanced first-line therapy. Chemotherapy combined with targeted therapy did not render a survival benefit to these patients, demonstrating that the importance of developing new treatment options for this population. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-023-10640-9.