Purpose
Data sharing through ClinVar offers a unique opportunity to identify interpretation differences between laboratories. As part of a ClinGen initiative, four clinical laboratories (Ambry, GeneDx, Partners Healthcare Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, and University of Chicago Genetic Services Laboratory) collaborated to identify the basis of interpretation differences and to investigate if data sharing and reassessment resolves interpretation differences by analyzing a subset of variants.
Methods
ClinVar variants with submissions from at least two of the four participating laboratories were compared. For a subset of identified differences, laboratories documented the basis for discordance, shared internal data, independently reassessed with the ACMG-AMP guidelines, and then compared interpretations.
Results
6,169 variants in ClinVar were interpreted by at least two of the participating laboratories, of which 88.3% were initially concordant. Laboratories reassessed 242/724 initially discordant variants, of which 87.2% (211) were resolved by reassessment with current criteria and/or internal data sharing. 12.8% (31) of reassessed variants remain discordant due to differences in application of the ACMG-AMP guidelines.
Conclusion
Participating laboratories increased their overall concordance from 88.3% to 91.7%, indicating that sharing variant interpretations in ClinVar, allowing identification of differences and motivation to resolve those differences, is critical to move toward more consistent variant interpretations.
The most common genetic cause of neonatal diabetes and hyperinsulinism is pathogenic variants in ABCC8 and KCNJ11. These genes encode the subunits of the β-cell ATP-sensitive potassium channel, a key component of the glucose-stimulated insulin secretion pathway. Mutations in the two genes cause dysregulated insulin secretion; inactivating mutations cause an oversecretion of insulin, leading to congenital hyperinsulinism, whereas activating mutations cause the opposing phenotype, diabetes. This review focuses on variants identified in ABCC8 and KCNJ11, the ---This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Wiedemann‐Steiner syndrome (WSS) is an autosomal dominant disorder caused by monoallelic variants in KMT2A and characterized by intellectual disability and hypertrichosis. We performed a retrospective, multicenter, observational study of 104 individuals with WSS from five continents to characterize the clinical and molecular spectrum of WSS in diverse populations, to identify physical features that may be more prevalent in White versus Black Indigenous People of Color individuals, to delineate genotype–phenotype correlations, to define developmental milestones, to describe the syndrome through adulthood, and to examine clinicians' differential diagnoses. Sixty‐nine of the 82 variants (84%) observed in the study were not previously reported in the literature. Common clinical features identified in the cohort included: developmental delay or intellectual disability (97%), constipation (63.8%), failure to thrive (67.7%), feeding difficulties (66.3%), hypertrichosis cubiti (57%), short stature (57.8%), and vertebral anomalies (46.9%). The median ages at walking and first words were 20 months and 18 months, respectively. Hypotonia was associated with loss of function (LoF) variants, and seizures were associated with non‐LoF variants. This study identifies genotype–phenotype correlations as well as race‐facial feature associations in an ethnically diverse cohort, and accurately defines developmental trajectories, medical comorbidities, and long‐term outcomes in individuals with WSS.
The incidence of HI among patients with KS may be higher than previously reported, and KS may account for as much as 1% of patients diagnosed with HI. As the recognition of dysmorphic features associated with KS is challenging in the neonatal period, we propose KS should be considered in the differential diagnosis of HI. Since HI in patients with KS is well managed medically, a timely recognition of hyperinsulinemic episodes will improve outcomes, and prevent aggravation of the preexisting mild to moderate intellectual disability in KS.
ClinVar provides open access to variant classifications shared from many clinical laboratories. While most classifications are consistent across laboratories, classification differences exist. To facilitate resolution of classification differences on a large scale, clinical laboratories were encouraged to reassess outlier classifications of variants with medically significant differences. Outliers were identified by first comparing ClinVar submissions from 41 clinical laboratories to detect variants with medically significant differences between the laboratories (650 variants). Next, medically significant differences were filtered for variants with ≥3 classifications (244 variants), of which 87.6% (213 variants) had a majority consensus in ClinVar, thus allowing for identification of outlier classifications in need of reassessment. Laboratories with outlier classifications were sent a custom report and encouraged to reassess variants. Results were returned for 204 (96%) variants, of which 62.3% (127) were resolved. Of those 127, 64.6% (82) were resolved due to reassessment prompted by this study and 35.4% (45) resolved by a previously completed reassessment. This study demonstrates a scalable approach to classification resolution and capitalizes on the value of data sharing within ClinVar. These activities will help the community move toward more consistent variant classifications which will improve the care of patients with, or at risk for, genetic disorders.
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