Fast and Easy-to-Perform BRAF Testing in Melanoma Samples: An Accessible Tool for Pathologists With no Experience in Molecular Analyses.

BRAFV600 mutation testing is mandatory for treatment choices in patients with advanced melanomas. Besides molecular methods, VE-1 immunohistochemistry has paved the way for BRAF mutation detection by every pathologist, but it only detects BRAFV600E mutant protein, and additional DNA-based molecular analyses are often delegated to molecular genetics laboratories to detect mutations other than BRAFV600E. In this technical article, we present a new diagnostic device that is easy to implement in surgical pathology laboratories, even for pathologists lacking any experience in molecular analyses, to diagnose most of the BRAF mutations encountered in melanoma. The implementation of this fast (<2 h per analysis) and fully automated new real-time polymerase chain reaction diagnostic device, in pathology laboratories, could help to reduce the turnaround times for molecular results, to allow rapid subsequent therapeutic choices in patients with advanced melanomas and other cancers.