Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common type of thyroid malignancy and includes several histological variants. Patients suffering from PTC usually have a good outcome. However, a group of PTC patients still encounter high rates of recurrence and mortality. The BRAFV600E mutation is the most common genetic alteration identified in PTC, ranging from 29 to 83%, with the average rate about 40%. To date, a growing body of evidence has suggested that the BRAFV600E mutation plays an important role in the carcinogenesis of PTC, and it tends to be associated with special subtypes of PTC and predicts poor prognosis. Therefore, mutant BRAF has become an attractive cancer target for PTC. This article is focuses on reviewing the impact of the BRAFV600E mutation in the tumorigenesis of PTC, differences in the prevalence of the BRAFV600E mutation in variants of PTC, and its detection methods. The novel advantages of the BRAFV600E mutation-targeted therapies in studies of PTC are also discussed.

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