Traits

Traits linked to RET

ret proto-oncogene

The Human Phenotype Ontology links 139 traits to RET, by body system: features seen in people with one of the gene's rare conditions.

Abnormality of the digestive system

Trait	How often it is seen
Abdominal pain	Very often (80–99%)
Constipation	Very often (80–99%)
Enlarged colon lacking nerve cells	Very often (80–99%)
Functional abnormality of the gastrointestinal tract	Very often (80–99%)
Intestinal obstruction	Very often (80–99%)
Nausea and vomiting	Very often (80–99%)
Abdominal bloating	Often (30–79%)
Abnormal connection between trachea and esophagus	Often (30–79%)
Abnormality of the intestine	Often (30–79%)
Acid reflux	Often (30–79%)
Bilious emesis	Often (30–79%)
Feeding difficulties	Often (30–79%)
Intermittent abdominal pain	Often (30–79%)
Nausea	Often (30–79%)
Abdominal mass	Sometimes (5–29%)
Colon perforation	Sometimes (5–29%)
Diarrhea	Sometimes (5–29%)
Enterocolitis	Sometimes (5–29%)
Abnormal enteric ganglion morphology	Not recorded
Colonic diverticula	Not recorded
Vomiting	Not recorded

Abnormality of the cardiovascular system

Trait	How often it is seen
Abnormal cardiovascular system morphology	Often (30–79%)
Decrease in blood pressure upon standing up	Often (30–79%)
Fainting spell	Often (30–79%)
High blood pressure	Often (30–79%)
Hypertension associated with pheochromocytoma	Often (30–79%)
Hypertensive crisis	Often (30–79%)
Hypertensive retinopathy	Often (30–79%)
Palpitations	Often (30–79%)
Positive regitine blocking test	Often (30–79%)
Sinus tachycardia	Often (30–79%)
Arachnoid hemangiomatosis	Sometimes (5–29%)
Cardiac failure	Sometimes (5–29%)
Disease of the heart muscle	Sometimes (5–29%)
Inflammation of heart muscle	Sometimes (5–29%)
Elevated heart rate	Not recorded
Intermittent high blood pressure	Not recorded
Narrowing of kidney artery	Not recorded
Strawberry mark	Not recorded

Abnormality of the nervous system

Trait	How often it is seen
Abnormal autonomic nervous system physiology	Very often (80–99%)
Central sleep apnea	Very often (80–99%)
Epilepsy	Often (30–79%)
Episodic paroxysmal anxiety	Often (30–79%)
Intellectual disability	Often (30–79%)
Recurrent paroxysmal headache	Often (30–79%)
Cancer of early nerve cells	Sometimes (5–29%)
Cranial nerve compression	Sometimes (5–29%)
Ganglioneuroma	Sometimes (5–29%)
Headache	Sometimes (5–29%)
Inability to move vocal cords	Sometimes (5–29%)
Panic attack	Sometimes (5–29%)
Tremor	Sometimes (5–29%)
Global developmental delay	Not recorded

Abnormality of the endocrine system

Trait	How often it is seen
Thyroid nodule	Always
Adrenal pheochromocytoma	Very often (80–99%)
Elevated blood parathyroid hormone level	Very often (80–99%)
Extraadrenal pheochromocytoma	Very often (80–99%)
Paraganglioma	Very often (80–99%)
Medullary thyroid carcinoma	Often (30–79%)
Paraganglioma of head and neck	Often (30–79%)
Pheochromocytoma	Often (30–79%)
Enlarged parathyroid glands	Not recorded
Increased circulating cortisol level	Not recorded
Nodular goiter	Not recorded
Parathyroid adenoma	Not recorded
Thyroid C cell hyperplasia	Not recorded

Laboratory abnormality

Trait	How often it is seen
Elevated calcitonin	Always
Nonketotic hypoglycemia	Very often (80–99%)
Elevated urinary dopamine	Often (30–79%)
Elevated urinary epinephrine level	Often (30–79%)
Elevated urinary norepinephrine level	Often (30–79%)
Elevated urinary vanillylmandelic acid	Often (30–79%)
High blood calcium levels	Often (30–79%)
High urine protein levels	Often (30–79%)
Blood in urine	Sometimes (5–29%)
High blood sugar	Sometimes (5–29%)
Cutaneous lichen amyloidosis	Not recorded

Abnormality of head or neck

Trait	How often it is seen
Eye folds	Very often (80–99%)
Flat nose	Very often (80–99%)
Cleft palate	Sometimes (5–29%)
Non-midline cleft of the upper lip	Sometimes (5–29%)
Retinal capillary hemangioma	Sometimes (5–29%)
Full lower lip	Not recorded
High palate	Not recorded
High, narrow palate	Not recorded
Thick eyebrow	Not recorded

Abnormality of the musculoskeletal system

Trait	How often it is seen
Abnormal sacrum morphology	Often (30–79%)
Low muscle tone	Often (30–79%)
Double-Jointed	Not recorded
Funnel chest	Not recorded
Generalized decreased muscle tone	Not recorded
Hunched back	Not recorded
Muscle tissue disease	Not recorded
Prominent swayback	Not recorded
Scoliosis	Not recorded

Growth abnormality

Trait	How often it is seen
Faltering weight	Very often (80–99%)
Small for gestational age	Very often (80–99%)
Weight loss	Often (30–79%)
Faltering weight in infancy	Sometimes (5–29%)
Growth delay	Sometimes (5–29%)
Short stature	Sometimes (5–29%)
Disproportionate tall stature	Not recorded

Abnormality of the genitourinary system

Trait	How often it is seen
Absent kidney	Very often (80–99%)
Glomerular sclerosis	Often (30–79%)
Urogenital fistula	Often (30–79%)
Abnormal morphology of female internal genitalia	Sometimes (5–29%)
Cancer starting in small tubes in kidneys	Sometimes (5–29%)
Renal failure	Sometimes (5–29%)

Abnormality of prenatal development or birth

Trait	How often it is seen
Low levels of amniotic fluid	Very often (80–99%)
Delayed passage of meconium	Often (30–79%)
Fetal polyuria	Often (30–79%)
High levels of amniotic fluid	Sometimes (5–29%)
Less than 10 fetal movements in 12 hours	Sometimes (5–29%)

Abnormality of the ear

Trait	How often it is seen
Low-set ears	Very often (80–99%)
Paroxysmal vertigo	Often (30–79%)
Pulsatile tinnitus	Often (30–79%)
Conductive deafness	Sometimes (5–29%)
Sensorineural hearing impairment	Sometimes (5–29%)

Abnormality of the integument

Trait	How often it is seen
Flushing	Often (30–79%)
Sporadic excessive sweating	Often (30–79%)
Paleness	Sometimes (5–29%)
Birthmark	Not recorded
Excessive sweating	Not recorded

Abnormality of the eye

Trait	How often it is seen
Cross-eyed	Very often (80–99%)
Wide-set eyes	Very often (80–99%)
Absent iris	Rarely (1–4%)
Clouding of the lens of the eye at birth	Not recorded

Abnormality of limbs

Trait	How often it is seen
Sirenomelia	Sometimes (5–29%)
High-arched foot	Not recorded
Slipped end part of innermost thighbone	Not recorded

Abnormality of the respiratory system

Trait	How often it is seen
Breathing dysregulation	Very often (80–99%)
Central hypoventilation	Very often (80–99%)
Poorly developed lungs	Very often (80–99%)

Constitutional symptom

Trait	How often it is seen
Chest pain	Often (30–79%)
Fatigue	Often (30–79%)

Abnormal tissue mass

Trait	How often it is seen
Abnormal tissue mass	Not recorded

Abnormality of blood and blood-forming tissues

Trait	How often it is seen
Bleeding in brain	Often (30–79%)

Abnormality of the immune system

Trait	How often it is seen
Infection in blood stream	Sometimes (5–29%)

Abnormality of the voice

Trait	How often it is seen
Inability to produce voice sounds	Often (30–79%)

How often is among people with one of the gene's conditions, the most often across them, as the Human Phenotype Ontology records it. These pages describe traits and the research behind them; they are not a diagnosis, and a doctor or genetic counsellor is the person to ask about symptoms.

Where this comes from

The Human Phenotype Ontology, release 2026-09-01: the traits linked to RET and how often each is seen. Find out more at hpo.jax.org.

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