BRAF mutation may have different prognostic implications in early- and late-stage colorectal cancer

The prognostic implication of BRAF mutant colorectal cancer remains paradoxical. Records of BRAF mutant and wild-type colorectal cancer patients at all stages were reviewed. Clinicopathologic features, including microsatellite instability, CpG islands methylator phenotype, and overall survival, of these patients were analyzed. Between 2005 and 2013, 428 colorectal cancer patients were enrolled in this study. The overall survival between BRAF mutant and wild-type patients with early-stage (stages I and II) colorectal cancer differed nonsignificantly (P = 0.99). By contrast, in late-stage (stages III and IV) patients, the median overall survival of BRAF mutant patients (N = 25) was significantly poorer than that of BRAF wild-type (N = 207) patients (BRAF mutant: 21.3 months (95 % confidence interval [CI] 7.1–35.5); BRAF wild-type: 53.5 months (95 % CI 37.5–69.5), P < 0.0001). In early-stage patients, we found that BRAF mutation was significantly associated with CpG island methylator phenotype-positive (P < 0.001), and microsatellite instability-high status (P = 0.0013). Conversely, in late-stage patients, BRAF mutation was significantly associated with CpG island methylator phenotype-positive (P = 0.0015) and the right-side colon (P = 0.014). BRAF mutation may have different prognostic implications in early- and late-stage colorectal cancer.