الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Melanocytic neoplasms range from banal nevi to malignant melanomas. The genetic background has been extensively studied in the Caucasian population. BRAF mutations were reported among the early driver mutations in nevogenesis. Nevertheless, the pathogenesis in the Egyptian Population has not been fully elucidated. BRAF gene status is an important predictive marker in tailoring therapy in metastatic melanoma patients. Mutation detection is performed on incisional biopsies or resection specimens using either DNA or protein based tests.
The present work was carried out to assess the sensitivity and specificity of immunohistochemistry (IHC) in comparison to Competitive Allele Specific Real Time PCR (CAST-PCR) for the detection of BRAF V600E mutation in paraffin embedded tissue biopsy of melanocytic neoplasms. Correlation between BRAF V600E status and different established clinico-pathologic parameters in melanoma cases was performed to evaluate its potential value as a prognostic marker.
In the present work, formalin-fixed, Paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue blocks of 21 nevi and 29 melanoma biopsies from Egyptian patients were analyzed for the BRAFV600E mutation status by immunohistochemical staining (IHC) using the RM-8 antibody. Competitive Allele-specific PCR (CAST-PCR) was applied to verify the IHC results. The prevalence of mutant BRAFV600E detected by IHC was compared with CAST-PCR results to determine the diagnostic utility of IHC testing.