Investigating KRAS/BRAF mutation in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas: a preliminary study.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to investigate the role of KRAS/BRAF gene mutation in the pathogenesis of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 26 OSCC patients (23 males, 3 females; mean age 60 years; range 41 to 77 years) diagnosed between January 2003 and November 2013 were included in the study. The methods used in our study were quantitative fluorescence polymerase chain reaction for KRAS/BRAF mutation analysis.

RESULTS: Ten of the tumors were located at the tongue base, 12 in the tonsil and four at the floor of mouth. The mean tumor size was 3.8 cm. Six of the tumors were well differentiated, 18 were moderately differentiated and two were poorly differentiated. All cases were analyzed for KRAS and BRAF gene mutations and none of them showed gene mutations.

CONCLUSION: We could not find any relation between OSCC and KRAS/BRAF gene mutations in our short case file. The role of mutations should be analyzed in larger series in OSCC to predict new targeted therapy modalities.