Eighty percent of all thyroid cancers are papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs). BRAF is part of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway and V600E is an activating mutation of BRAF. The BRAF V600E mutation has been reported in 45% of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma. The BRAF V600E-like PTC's (BVL) and the RAS-like PTC (RL-PTC) are fundamentally different in their genomic, epigenomic, and proteomic profiles. Presence of a BRAF p.Val600Glu (V600E) mutation is highly specific for papillary thyroid carcinoma and is only rarely associated with the follicular variant PTC , other well-differentiated thyroid neoplasms or nodular goiters. The possible prognostic impact of BRAF V600E mutations in papillary carcinoma of the thyroid continues to be studied.
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