Significance of the BRAF mRNA Expression Level in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: An Analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas Data

Abstract

Background

BRAF^V600E is the most common mutation in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), and it is associated with high-risk prognostic factors. However, the significance of the BRAF mRNA level in PTC remains unknown. We evaluated the significance of BRAF mRNA expression level by analyzing PTC data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database.

Methods

Data from 499 patients were downloaded from the TCGA database. After excluding other PTC variants, we selected 353 cases of classic PTC, including 193 cases with BRAF^V600E and 160 cases with the wild-type BRAF. mRNA abundances were measured using RNA-Seq with the Expectation Maximization algorithm.

Results

The mean BRAF mRNA level was significantly higher in BRAF^V600E patients than in patients with wild-type BRAF (197.6 vs. 179.3, p = 0.031). In wild-type BRAF patients, the mean BRAF mRNA level was higher in cases with a tumor > 2 cm than those with a tumor ≤ 2.0 cm (189.4 vs. 163.8, p = 0.046), and was also higher in cases with lymph node metastasis than in those without lymph node metastasis (188.5 vs. 157.9, p = 0.040). Within BRAF^V600E patients, higher BRAF mRNA expression was associated with extrathyroidal extension (186.4 vs. 216.4, p = 0.001) and higher T stage (188.1 vs. 210.2, p = 0.016).

Conclusions

A higher BRAF mRNA expression level was associated with tumor aggressiveness in classic PTC regardless of BRAF mutational status. Evaluation of BRAF mRNA level may be helpful in prognostic risk stratification of PTC.

Introduction

Thyroid carcinoma is the most common endocrine malignancy, and its incidence has increased rapidly over the past few decades. In 2014, an estimated 62,980 new patients were expected in the United States [1]. Fortunately, the prognosis is generally excellent, and the thyroid cancer mortality is as low as 0.5 cases per 100,000 people [2]. However, a subset of thyroid carcinomas has a poor prognosis that is not adequately explained by traditional staging systems. Recent advances in cancer genetics provide new opportunities for improved assessment, and the molecular markers now available represent an effective strategy for the diagnosis and prognostication of thyroid carcinoma.

BRAF somatic mutations, the most extensively investigated molecular markers, are the most common genetic alterations in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). One somatic mutation, BRAF^V600E, results in the substitution of a valine by a glutamate at reside 600 and is associated with adverse prognostic factors such as extrathyroidal extension (ETE), lymph node metastasis, advanced American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage, recurrence, distant metastasis, and poor survival [3–6]. This is explained by the fact that BRAF^V600E mutation, via activation of the MAP kinase pathway, causes loss of expression of thyroid genes and refractoriness to radioiodine, as well as up-regulation of angiogenic and tumor-promoting molecules [7, 8]. On the other hand, the incidence of the BRAF^V600E mutation in classic PTC varies widely between studies (38–83%) [9], and its positive predictive value for cancer recurrence is only 28% [10]. Furthermore, the results of several studies have challenged the notion that the BRAF^V600E mutation is a valuable prognostic marker [11, 12]. Consequently, the prognostic use of the BRAF^V600E mutation may not be generalizable to all clinical settings.

Several studies have suggested that the behavior of PTC is influenced not only by BRAF mutation status, but also by the expression level of the Braf mutant protein or the percentage of BRAF mutant alleles. One study reported that higher expression of Braf mutant protein predicts aggressive tumor behavior in PTC [13]. Other studies assessed the correlation between the percentage of BRAF mutant alleles and clinical outcomes in PTC using pyrosequencing [14, 15]. The results showed that higher percentages of BRAF mutant alleles were associated with poor prognostic factors such as older age, larger tumor size, ETE, and higher recurrence rate.

In this study, we analyzed the BRAF mRNA expression level in cases of PTC from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database to investigate the significance of the level of BRAF mRNA expression in PTC and evaluate its prognostic value.

Materials and Methods

Data acquisition

As of March 2015, TCGA group made available multiple types of genomic data regarding thyroid carcinoma, including somatic mutation, exome sequencing, methylation array, mRNA expression count, microRNA expression count and clinical information. We downloaded the data on somatic mutation, mRNA expression count, and clinical information from the TCGA data portal (https://tcga-data.nci.nih.gov/tcga/tcgaDownload.jsp). All patient information was anonymized and de-identified in this database. According to TCGA publication guidelines (http://cancergenome.nih.gov/publications/publicationguidelines), there are no restrictions on the publication of these somatic mutation and mRNA sequencing data and no specific permission is required for investigators to publish papers containing or referring to these data. Somatic mutation data were provided as a mutation call file by the Broad Institute and the Baylor College of Medicine. The Illumina Genome Analyzer was used as the platform for DNA sequencing (Illumina Inc., San Diego, CA, USA). mRNA sequencing data, obtained by Illumina HiSeq 2000 RNA Sequencing Version 2 analysis, were provided by the University of North Carolina. mRNA expression counts were obtained via the TCGA portal and are expressed as RNA-Seq by Expectation Maximization (RSEM) values. RSEM is an accurate software tool for quantifying transcript abundances from RNA-Seq data [16].

After excluding the patients with missing information, we downloaded data from a total of 499 patients. Two authors (YJC, JWY) independently reviewed every scanned original pathologic report file and revised incorrect or missing clinical information. In cases of multifocal PTC, the largest tumor was analyzed.

Patient selection

Of the 499 cases of PTC, 101 cases of follicular variant, 35 cases of tall cell variant, and eight cases of other variants were excluded, leaving a total of 355 classic PTCs. Subtype classification of the PTC patients was based on a previously published paper by Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network [17]. Follicular variant or tall cell variant PTC was diagnosed when more than 99% of the tumor exhibited a follicular pattern or more than 50% of tall cell features, respectively [17]. Two patients with BRAF mutations other than V600E (N581T, V459V) were also excluded. Ultimately, 193 classic PTCs with BRAF^V600E and 160 classic PTCs with wild-type BRAF were selected for the analysis.

Statistics

Data were analyzed using the R software version 3.0.2 (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria). Chi-square tests and Fisher’s exact test were used to compare categorical variables. Unpaired two sample t-test and linear regression analysis were performed to compare mRNA expression counts. Recursive Partitioning and Regression Trees were used to calculate the cut-off value of BRAF^V600E mRNA expression above which the expression levels correlate with poor prognosis parameters. The Kaplan-Meier estimator was used for survival analysis. A p-value < 0.05 was considered significant.

Results

The median follow-up duration was 20.7 months (range, 0.03–171.70 months). Fig 1 shows Kaplan–Meier overall survival for the study population based on clinicopathological characteristics. Age ≥ 45 (p < 0.001), higher Tumor stage (T stage, p < 0.001), and higher AJCC stage (p < 0.001) were associated with poorer overall survival. Other clinicopathological characteristics such as gender (p = 0.293), size > 2.0 cm (p = 0.186), ETE (p = 0.14), presence of thyroiditis (p = 0.129), and lymph node metastasis (p = 0.225) were not significantly associated with overall survival.

Fig 1. Overall survival of classic papillary thyroid carcinoma patients.

(A) Age ≥ 45, (B) higher Tumor stage (T stage), and (C) higher American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage were associated with poorer overall survival.

BRAF mutation status and clinicopathological characteristics

Clinicopathological characteristics of classic PTC patients classified according to BRAF mutation status are shown in Table 1. None of the factors, including age, gender, thyroiditis, ETE, tumor size, AJCC stage, recurrence, or vital status, differed significantly between the BRAF^V600E and wild-type BRAF patients.

Table 1. Clinicopathological characteristics of classic papillary thyroid carcinoma patients with BRAF^V600E or wild-type BRAF.

	Wild-type BRAF (n = 160)	BRAFV600E (n = 193)	p—value
Age
< 45 years	78 (48.8%)	92 (49.7%)	0.924
≥ 45 years	82 (51.2%)	101 (52.3%)
Gender
Male	41 (25.6%)	55 (28.5%)	0.629
Female	119 (74.4%)	138 (71.5%)
Thyroiditis
No	47 (29.4%)	65 (33.7%)	1.000
Yes	49 (30.6%)	67 (34.7%)
n.a	64 (40.0%)	61 (31.6%)
Extrathyroidal extension
No	115 (71.9%)	121 (62.7%)	0.087
Yes	45 (28.1%)	72 (37.3%)
Tumor size
≤ 2.0 cm	63 (39.4%)	83 (43.0%)	0.561
> 2.0 cm	97 (60.6%)	110 (57.0%)
T stage
T1, T2	102 (63.8%)	110 (57.0%)	0.238
T3, T4	58 (36.2%)	83 (43.0%)
N stage
N0	44 (27.5%)	63 (32.6%)	0.572
N1	84 (52.5%)	93 (48.2%)
Nx	32 (20.0%)	37 (19.2%)
AJCC stage
I, II	104 (65.0%)	129 (66.8%)	0.802
III, IV	56 (35.0%)	64 (33.2%)
Recurrence
No	149 (93.1%)	176 (91.2%)	0.637
Yes	11 (6.9%)	17 (8.8%)
Vital Status
Alive	155 (96.9%)	184 (95.3%)	0.643
Dead	5 (3.1%)	9 (4.7%)

Abbreviations: AJCC = American Joint Committee on Cancer

BRAF mRNA expression levels in BRAF^V600E and wild-type BRAF classic PTC

The BRAF mRNA expression counts for the study patients are shown in S1 Table. The count data for the wild-type BRAF and BRAF^V600E patients can be summarized as follows: for wild-type BRAF patients, minimum 45.3, lower quartile 128.7, median 166.2, mean 179.3 and upper quartile 204.2; for BRAF^V600E patients, minimum 56.1, lower quartile 154.7, median 194.1, mean 197.6, and upper quartile 243.5 (Fig 2). The mean BRAF mRNA expression count was significantly higher in BRAF^V600E patients than in patients with wild-type BRAF (197.6 vs. 179.3, p = 0.031).

Fig 2. BRAF mRNA expression counts in classic papillary thyroid carcinoma patients.

The mean BRAF mRNA expression count was significantly higher in BRAF^V600E patients than in patients with wild-type BRAF.

Significance of the BRAF mRNA expression level

Table 2 shows the results of unpaired two sample t-test. BRAF mRNA expression was higher in patients < 45 years and in those without thyroiditis, with a tumor size > 2.0cm, and with N1 nodal stage. In wild-type BRAF patients, the BRAF mRNA expression count was higher in cases with a tumor size > 2 cm. In addition, the count was higher in cases with N1 nodal stage. Within BRAF^V600E patients, higher BRAF mRNA expression was associated with the presence of ETE and higher T stage. Fig 3 summarizes the association between BRAF mRNA expression count and clinicopathological characteristics. Table 3 shows the results of linear regression analysis. The BRAF mRNA expression count was negatively correlated with age ≥ 45 years and thyroiditis, and was positively correlated with tumor size > 2 cm and N1 nodal stage. In wild-type BRAF patients, the BRAF mRNA expression count negatively correlated with age ≥ 45 years whereas it positively correlated with ETE and higher T stage in BRAF^V600E patients.

Table 2. Unpaired t-test results of comparisons of each clinical variable, using BRAF mRNA expression counts as the response variable.

	All (n = 353)		Wild-type BRAF (n = 160)		BRAFV600E (n = 193)
	Mean (RSEM)	p-value	Mean (RSEM)	p-value	Mean (RSEM)	p-value
Age
< 45 years	199.046	0.023	193.7	0.051	203.5	0.207
≥ 45 years	180.224		165.5		192.1
Gender
Male	183.224	0.310	168.3	0.271	194.4	0.647
Female	191.554		183.1		198.9
Thyroiditis
No	199.195	0.032	200.8	0.104	198.0	0.162
Yes	176.810		167.0		184.0
Extrathyroidal extension
No	196.560	0.178	185.0	0.111	186.4	0.001
Yes	185.683		164.8		216.4
Tumor size
≤ 2.0 cm	179.442	0.028	163.8	0.046	191.4	0.209
> 2.0 cm	196.233		189.4		202.3
T stage
T1, T2	183.554	0.079	178.7	0.908	188.1	0.016
T3, T4	197.910		180.3		210.2
N stage
N0	175.960	0.013	157.9	0.040	188.6	0.078
N1	197.587		188.5		205.8
AJCC stage
I, II	193.133	0.157	187.3	0.073	197.9	0.934
III, IV	181.824		164.4		197.0
Recurrence
No	187.747	0.191	177.7	0.364	196.3	0.424
Yes	207.181		201.0		211.2
Vital Status
Alive	188.792	0.574	179.4	0.639	196.7	0.563
Dead	201.301		174.2		216.4

Abbreviations: RSEM = RNA-Seq by Expectation Maximization; AJCC = American Joint Committee on Cancer

Fig 3. BRAF mRNA expression counts according to clinicopathological features.

In BRAF^V600E patients, higher BRAF mRNA expression was associated with (A) the presence of extrathyroidal extension and (B) higher Tumor stage (T stage). In wild-type BRAF patients, higher BRAF mRNA expression was associated with (C) tumor size > 2 cm and (D) N1 stage.

Table 3. Linear regression analysis of comparisons of each clinical variable, using BRAF mRNA expression counts as the response variable.

	All (n = 353)		Wild-type BRAF (n = 160)		BRAFV600E (n = 193)
	t-value	p-value	t-value	p-value	t-value	p-value
Age ≥ 45 years	-2.318	0.021	-2.001	0.047	-1.263	0.208
Male gender	0.908	0.365	0.909	0.365	0.448	0.655
Thyroiditis	-2.213	0.028	-1.855	0.066	-1.299	0.196
Extrathyroidal extension	1.255	0.210	-1.281	0.202	3.305	0.001
Tumor size > 2.0 cm	2.035	0.043	1.772	0.078	1.201	0.231
T stage (T3, T4)	1.727	0.085	0.108	0.914	2.462	0.015
N stage (N1)	2.314	0.021	1.839	0.068	1.685	0.094
AJCC stage (III, IV)	-1.314	0.190	-1.538	0.126	-0.086	0.932
Recurrence	1.288	0.199	0.83	0.408	0.935	0.351
Mortality	0.598	0.551	-0.129	0.897	0.921	0.358

Abbreviations: RSEM = RNA-Seq by Expectation Maximization; AJCC = American Joint Committee on Cancer

Discussion

Since the start of the TCGA project in 2006, multiplatform genomic data from more than 20 types of carcinomas have been provided through the TCGA data portal, and multiple studies have been performed using this powerful open resource. Several studies of thyroid carcinoma using this data resource have been reported recently [14, 17, 18]. The TCGA portal provides an enormous amount of information, including data regarding microsatellite instability, DNA sequencing, miRNA sequencing, protein expression, mRNA sequencing, DNA methylation, copy number variation, clinical information, and clinical images. Although TCGA genomic data are archived under standardized and strictly controlled condition, some concerns remain regarding the correlation of genomic data with clinical information due to the potential inaccuracy of the clinical information. Such potential discrepancies exist because the surgical procedures and pathologic reporting systems differed among the institutes that collected the data. Therefore, to ensure the reliability of the TCGA data, we examined each scanned original pathologic file and revised the clinical information. Moreover, to examine the reliability of the TCGA data, we performed survival analysis; the results showed that overall survival was associated with older patient age, absence of thyroiditis, higher T stage, and higher AJCC stage, consistent with the known relationships between these parameters and overall survival in PTC.

The MAPK pathway [Ras Raf MEK MAPK/ERK] is a fundamental intracellular signaling pathway that plays a central role in cellular functions such as proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and survival [19]. Several mutations in the MAPK pathway are involved in the tumorigenesis of PTC. Of these, the BRAF^V600E mutation is the most potent activator of the MAPK pathway [20]. The BRAF^V600E kinase is more active than the wild-type BRAF, and its transformation efficacy is 138- to 500-fold higher [21, 22]. The clinical impact of the BRAF^V600E mutation is well known, but the significance of the BRAF mRNA expression level has not been previously studied well.

Although there are concerns that the mRNA expression level may not provide a true reflection of the protein expression level, RNA sequencing has the advantage in that the results obtained using this method can be objectively measured and there are studies reporting positive correlation between the mRNA expression level and protein expression level. One study showed that differentially expressed mRNA correlated well with their protein levels [23] and another study showed that more than 85% of the variation in steady-state protein levels could be explained by changes in mRNA levels [24]. In this regard, we used the BRAF mRNA expression level as a surrogate marker for Braf function in thyroid carcinoma, although a substantial proportion of variation in the protein level cannot be explained wholly by changes in the mRNA level alone [25].

The significance of BRAF mRNA expression in thyroid tumors has been reported previously [26], and recurrence or distant metastasis in PTC patients has been shown to be related to higher BRAF mRNA expression [26]. In the present study, we found an association between the BRAF mRNA expression level and clinicopathological characteristics in a large number of cases. We found that higher BRAF mRNA expression levels were associated with aggressive clinical features in both wild-type BRAF and BRAF^V600E patients except patient age < 45 years which is controversial as a cutoff for favorable prognosis [27]. On the other hand, we observed no differences in the clinicopathological characteristics of wild-type BRAF and BRAF^V600E patients, which is in contrast to the results of other studies showing that the BRAF^V600E mutation is associated with poor prognostic factors [28]. This might be because a relatively small number of patients with short term follow-up weakened the statistical power. On the other hand, it can be also postulated that the expression level of BRAF mRNA contributes to aggressiveness of PTC, and PTC with BRAF^V600E may not exhibit aggressive features unless mRNA expression of the BRAF^V600E reaches a certain level. Additionally, the present dataset might have included relatively low numbers of PTCs with high BRAF^V600E mRNA expression counts, which would have prevented observing a statistical difference in clinicopathological features between wild-type BRAF and BRAF^V600E patients. In fact, a number of studies with small sample size could not demonstrate that BRAF mutation is a poor prognostic factor [11, 12, 29, 30], whereas studies with larger sample sizes could [8, 31].

The significance of the Braf protein expression level has been demonstrated in previous studies using immunohistochemistry. Immunohistochemical studies suggest that higher Braf protein expression is associated with poor prognostic factors in PTC and melanoma. Zagzag et al. [13] performed an immunohistochemical study using a mutation-specific antibody (VE1; Springer-Bio, Maisons-Alfort Cedex, France) and reported that higher Braf^V600E mutant protein expression is associated with the presence of ETE in PTC. Although immunohistochemical studies are difficult to evaluate objectively or quantitatively, and the results of such studies are sometimes not reproducible [32], detection of Braf^V600E mutant protein using a mutation-specific antibody has been validated in several studies [33–35]. An association between high Braf expression and adverse prognostic outcomes was also demonstrated in melanoma [36].

The possible heterogeneous distribution of the BRAF mutation in PTC tumors is an important consideration in interpreting BRAF mRNA expression. Whether the BRAF mutation in PTC is clonal or subclonal has been the subject of much debate. Up until recently, the general perception was that BRAF mutations in PTC are strong driver mutations and PTCs with the BRAF mutation are clonal. This viewpoint is supported by the results of an immunohistochemical study using a Braf^V600E mutation-specific antibody [37] as well by a recent publication from the TCGA Research Network [17]. Conversely, a number of recent studies suggest that tumors are heterogeneous for the BRAF mutation and that not every cell in a BRAF mutation-positive tumor has a heterozygous mutation [14, 15, 38–40]. These studies also demonstrated that the percentage of BRAF mutant alleles in PTC with the BRAF^V600E mutation were significantly below 50%, the theoretical percentage for a clonal heterozygous mutation [14, 38–40]. Additionally, Guerra et al. subsequently demonstrated that a higher percentage of BRAF mutant alleles are associated with older age, larger tumor sizes, and higher recurrence rates in PTC [15]. Other studies demonstrated that a higher proportion of BRAF mutant cells in PTC is associated with larger tumor size [40, 41] and lymph node metastasis [40]. Likewise, the present study showed that high BRAF mRNA expression correlates with aggressive clinical features of PTC, probably because the tumors with high BRAF mRNA expression had a greater number of BRAF^V600E mutant cells. Further molecular investigations, including single cell sequencing, might help resolve the heterogeneity issue. If the BRAF mutation proves to be heterogeneous in PTC, it may turn out that PTCs cannot be categorized merely on whether they are BRAF mutated or not.

Regarding the role of BRAF mRNA expression in wild-type PTC, the issue of tumor heterogeneity may have little impact on the aggressive clinicopathological characteristics. There may be increased activities of the Braf kinase in association with presumptive increased Braf protein levels as a result of the overexpression of wild-type BRAF mRNA in aggressive PTC compared with indolent PTC. Consequently, the downstream signaling activities of the MAP kinase pathway may be more active in aggressive PTC than in indolent PTC; this would be consistent with the fact that overexpression of wild-type BRAF also causes increased activation of downstream signaling of the MAP kinase pathway [42–44]. This may explain the finding in the present study that BRAF mRNA overexpression was associated with aggressive features even in PTC with the wild-type BRAF. The clinical significance of this finding needs further studies to define. It is also interesting that in this study the mean BRAF mRNA expression level was significantly higher in PTC with BRAF^V600E than in PTC with the wild-type BRAF although there was no significant difference in the tumor aggressiveness between the two groups. The roles of the wild-type BRAF and BRAF^V600E in tumor progression are apparently complex. Further mechanistic studies are needed to fully understand these findings.

Meanwhile, various BRAF inhibitors are currently being tested in clinical trials on patients with refractory thyroid carcinoma, with varying results. Subclonality, splice variants, or copy number gains of BRAF may be responsible for the lack of responses to BRAF inhibitors in many cases [45–47]. In selecting patients who may benefit from BRAF inhibitors, the BRAF mRNA expression level might serve as a potentially useful selection indicator if, in the future, it is proven to be specifically correlated with the response rate to BRAF inhibitors. As such, BRAF mRNA expression level might be helpful in predicting therapeutic effects. Similarly, it could also help exclude patients who would likely not respond to unnecessary treatments with BRAF inhibitors, and thereby avoid unnecessary exposure of such patients to the undesirable side effects of these drugs.

In conclusion, high BRAF mRNA expression levels were associated with aggressive clinical features in both wild-type BRAF and BRAF ^V600E patients with classic PTC, although the association with recurrence or survival could not be shown due to limited follow-up. Although heterogeneity of the BRAF mutation could weaken the correlation between the BRAF mRNA expression level and aggressive clinical features, the correlation was probably more robust in the PTC samples with higher percentages of BRAF mutant cells. Evaluation of the BRAF mRNA expression level in patients could provide a way to establish more accurate prognoses and risk stratification.

Supporting Information

S1 Table. Clinicopathological features and BRAF mRNA expression counts of the study patients.

(XLSX)

Data Availability

All relevant data are available within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

Funding Statement

This study was conducted with research grants from the Korean Foundation for Cancer Research (Grant Number: CB-2011-03-01) and the Korean Health Technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health and Welfare (HI13C2164). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.