RET
RET is a kinase altered in thyroid cancer and a small slice of lung cancer, treatable with one selective pill regardless of where the tumour is.
RET fusions (NSCLC ~1-2%, papillary thyroid) and RET mutations (medullary thyroid cancer) respond to selpercatinib and pralsetinib. Selpercatinib has tumour-agnostic approval and, in 2026, expanded labels.
- Target · the protein and the cell it sits on
- Drug · antibody, small molecule, cell or radioligand
- Effect · signal, damage or kill
In plain words · RET is a kinase altered in thyroid cancer and a small slice of lung cancer, treatable with one selective pill regardless of where the tumour is.
- 1 · What it is
RET is a kinase altered in thyroid cancer and a small slice of lung cancer, treatable with one selective pill regardless of where the tumour is.
- 2 · What goes wrong in cancer
RET is the receptor tyrosine kinase for GDNF-family ligands.
- 3 · How drugs use it
6 products aim at RET: small molecules. Kinases are switched on by binding ATP inside the cell, so most drugs are small molecules shaped to plug that ATP pocket.
Biology
RET is the receptor tyrosine kinase for GDNF-family ligands.
- Medullary thyroid cancer
- Papillary thyroid cancer
- NSCLC
How common it is, by cancer
| Cancer | Prevalence | Measure | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thyroid cancer | 60-70% | RET mutation in medullary thyroid cancer | ~10-20% RET fusions in papillary | Wikipedia |
| Non-small-cell lung cancer | 1-2% | Fusion | cBioPortal (TCGA) |
Approximate, population-level figures; the measure column says what was counted. Ranges show the midpoint as a bar.
A pill that blocks both blood-vessel growth and the MET escape pathway, used in kidney, liver, thyroid and, since 2025, neuroendocrine cancers.
An oral anti-angiogenic pill that matched sorafenib in liver cancer with higher response rates, and partners with pembrolizumab in kidney and endometrial cancer.
Pralsetinib is the second selective RET pill for lung cancer, less used than selpercatinib after a change of owner and label.
A sorafenib successor that became the first second-line drug proven to prolong life in liver cancer (2017).
Selpercatinib is a selective RET inhibitor approved for any tumour with a RET fusion, with a further label update in July 2026.
Vandetanib was the first drug approved for medullary thyroid cancer (2011), now largely replaced by RET-selective selpercatinib.
Latest papers
topQuery for this target: (TITLE:"RET" OR ABSTRACT:"RET") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about RET, not a curated reading list.