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What does it mean if my melanoma has a BRAF mutation?
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JeffreyWeberMDPhD (Physician - Oncology - Hematology/Oncology (Verified) ) - 07 / 01 / 2012
If the melanoma is one of the 50% or so that have a BRAF mutation that usually means it is a so-called “driver” mutation, by which we mean the melanoma cell becomes dependent on the mutated BRAF protein for its uncontrolled growth and spread. Patients with that mutation have a slightly worse outcome than those that do not, and those with the mutation may be a bit younger than those without it. The most important implication for a patient that has a BRAF mutated melanoma is that there are now a number of drugs that specifically inhibit and block the mutated BRAF, resulting in rapid and impressive shrinkage of tumors. The first of those drugs, vemurafenib, was approved by the FDA in August 2011 for patients with metastatic melanoma, and is a very effective drug. Several other drugs are also being developed that inhibit mutated BRAF and may get approved by the FDA in coming years. Vemurafenib prolongs survival in patients that have had no prior treatment for their melanoma, compared to chemotherapy alone, and its approval is a major milestone in the melanoma field.
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