Precision therapy for RET-altered cancers with RET inhibitors.

Rearranged during transfection (RET) is involved in the physiological development of some organ systems. Activating RET alterations via either gene fusions or point mutations are potent oncogenic drivers in non-small cell lung cancer, thyroid cancer, and in multiple diverse cancers. RET-altered cancers were initially treated with multikinase inhibitors (MKIs). The efficacy of MKIs was modest at the expense of notable toxicities from their off-target activity. Recently, highly potent and RET-specific inhibitors selpercatinib and pralsetinib were successfully translated to the clinic and FDA approved. We summarize the current state-of-the-art therapeutics with preclinical and clinical insights of these novel RET inhibitors, acquired resistance mechanisms, and future outlooks.
Competing Interests: Declaration of interests V.S. reports research funding/grant support for clinical trials: Roche/Genentech, Novartis, Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, Nanocarrier, Vegenics, Celgene, Northwest Biotherapeutics, Berghealth, Incyte, Fujifilm, Pharmamar, D3, Pfizer, Multivir, Amgen, Abbvie, Alfa-sigma, Agensys, Boston Biomedical, Idera Pharma, Inhibrx, Exelixis, Blueprint Medicines, Loxo Oncology, Medimmune, Altum, Dragonfly Therapeutics, Takeda and National Comprehensive Cancer Network, NCI-CTEP and UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Turning Point Therapeutics, Boston Pharmaceuticals; Travel: Novartis, Pharmamar, ASCO, ESMO, Helsinn, Incyte. Consultancy/advisory board: Helsinn, LOXO Oncology/Eli Lilly, R-Pharma US, INCYTE, QED pharma, Medimmune, Novartis. Other: Medscape. All remaining authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
(Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)