Mutation Spectrum and Associated Risks of Medullary Thyroid Cancer and All-Cause Mortality in Incidentally Identified MEN2A-CausingRETVariants

Abstract

Importance: RET pathogenic variants cause Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type 2 (MEN2), characterised by medullary thyroid cancer (MTC). With increasing incidental identification of these variants in asymptomatic individuals outside family screening, their risk of MTC and all-cause mortality without intervention remain unknown in this context. Objective: To determine the risk of MTC and all-cause mortality in clinically unselected individuals and assess how the risk of MTC differ from clinically ascertained cases. Design, Setting, and Participants: Prospective cohort study of 383,914 unrelated individuals from the clinically unselected UK population (UK Biobank) and 122,640 from the US health system (Geisinger cohort). We compared MTC risk in these cohorts to 1,078 individuals who were clinically ascertained with suspicion of MEN2 from UK routine practice. Exposures: RET pathogenic variants causing MEN2 Main Outcomes and Measures: Frequency and the spectrum of pathogenic RET variants, Risk of clinically presented MTC, all-cause mortality without thyroidectomy. Results: Pathogenic RET variants were found in 0.04% of individuals from UK population cohort and 0.08% of individuals from US health system cohort. They were predominantly from moderate-risk category as per American Thyroid Association guideline (99.4% and 94.8% respectively). MTC risk by age 75 in variant carriers in the UK population was 2.2% (95% CI 0.7-6.8) and 19% (95% CI 5.7-30) in US health system cohort. This was significantly lower than the clinically ascertained cohort with the matched variants (95.7%, 95% CI 82.1-99.7 p<0.0001). In the UK Biobank, most variant carriers (98.2%) did not undergo thyroidectomy and their all-cause mortality by age 75 was similar to non-carriers (6.1%, 95% CI 2.7-13.8 vs 5.7%, 5.6-5.8, p=0.79), with consistent findings in the US health system cohort. Conclusions and Relevance: Moderate-risk RET variants are most common in incidental cases. These variants carry substantially lower MTC risk than clinically ascertained cases. This evidence addresses a current knowledge gap, enabling more informed clinical decision-making.