Thirty Years of Progress Thanks to the RET Oncogene

Although medullary thyroid cancer accounts for less than 5% of thyroid cancers, it deserves attention because of its phenotypic heterogeneity, its often aggressive behavior, and the long-term lack of curative postoperative treatment. In 25% of cases, medullary thyroid cancer may be part of a rare genetic tumor syndrome, multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN-2). In 1993, mutations in the RET (rearranged during transfection) proto-oncogene were identified by Mulligan and colleagues as responsible for MEN-2.(1) It is therefore quite a coincidence that on the 30th anniversary of the discovery of RET, the first drug specifically targeting this pathway is now recognized . . .