High frequency of BRAF mutations in nevi

Pamela M. Pollock, Ursula L. Harper, Katherine S. Hansen, Laura M. Yudt, Mitchell Stark, Christiane M. Robbins, Tracy Y. Moses, Galen Hostetter, Urs Wagner, John Kakareka, Ghadi Salem, Tom Pohida, Peter Heenan, Paul Duray, Olli Kallioniemi, Nicholas K. Hayward, Jeffrey M. Trent, Paul S. Meltzer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1260 Scopus citations

Abstract

To evaluate the timing of mutations in BRAF (v-raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B1) during melanocytic neoplasia, we carried out mutation analysis on microdissected melanoma and nevi samples. We observed mutations resulting in the V599E amino-acid substitution in 41 of 60 (68%) melanoma metastases, 4 of 5 (80%) primary melanomas and, unexpectedly, in 63 of 77 (82%) nevi. These data suggest that mutational activation of the RAS/RAF/MAPK pathway in nevi is a critical step in the initiation of melanocytic neoplasia but alone is insufficient for melanoma tumorigenesis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)19-20
Number of pages2
JournalNature genetics
Volume33
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2003

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Genetics

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