Evaluation of the diagnostic accuracy of exome sequencing and its impact on diagnostic thinking for patients with rare disease in a publicly funded health care system: A prospective cohort study.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the diagnostic utility of publicly funded clinical exome sequencing (ES) for patients with suspected rare genetic diseases. METHODS: We prospectively enrolled 297 probands who met eligibility criteria and received ES across 5 sites in Ontario, Canada, and extracted data from medical records and clinician surveys. Using the Fryback and Thornbury Efficacy Framework, we assessed diagnostic accuracy by examining laboratory interpretation of results and assessed diagnostic thinking by examining the clinical interpretation of results and whether clinical-molecular diagnoses would have been achieved via alternative hypothetical molecular tests. RESULTS: Laboratories reported 105 molecular diagnoses and 165 uncertain results in known and novel genes. Of these, clinicians interpreted 102 of 105 (97%) molecular diagnoses and 6 of 165 (4%) uncertain results as clinical-molecular diagnoses. The 108 clinical-molecular diagnoses were in 104 families (35% diagnostic yield). Each eligibility criteria resulted in diagnostic yields of 30% to 40%, and higher yields were achieved when >2 eligibility criteria were met (up to 45%). Hypothetical tests would have identified 61% of clinical-molecular diagnoses. CONCLUSION: We demonstrate robustness in eligibility criteria and high clinical validity of laboratory results from ES testing. The importance of ES was highlighted by the potential 40% of patients that would have gone undiagnosed without this test.

Bridging clinical care and research in Ontario, Canada: Maximizing diagnoses from reanalysis of clinical exome sequencing data.

We examined the utility of clinical and research processes in the reanalysis of publicly-funded clinical exome sequencing data in Ontario, Canada. In partnership with eight sites, we recruited 287 families with suspected rare genetic diseases tested between 2014 and 2020. Data from seven laboratories was reanalyzed with the referring clinicians. Reanalysis of clinically relevant genes identified diagnoses in 4% (13/287); four were missed by clinical testing. Translational research methods, including analysis of novel candidate genes, identified candidates in 21% (61/287). Of these, 24 families have additional evidence through data sharing to support likely diagnoses (8% of cohort). This study indicates few diagnoses are missed by clinical laboratories, the incremental gain from reanalysis of clinically-relevant genes is modest, and the highest yield comes from validation of novel disease-gene associations. Future implementation of translational research methods, including continued reporting of compelling genes of uncertain significance by clinical laboratories, should be considered to maximize diagnoses.

Activating RAC1 variants in the switch II region cause a developmental syndrome and alter neuronal morphology.

RAC1 is a highly conserved Rho GTPase critical for many cellular and developmental processes. De novo missense RAC1 variants cause a highly variable neurodevelopmental disorder. Some of these variants have previously been shown to have a dominant negative effect. Most previously reported patients with this disorder have either severe microcephaly or severe macrocephaly. Here, we describe eight patients with pathogenic missense RAC1 variants affecting residues between Q61 and R68 within the switch II region of RAC1. These patients display variable combinations of developmental delay, intellectual disability, brain anomalies such as polymicrogyria and cardiovascular defects with normocephaly or relatively milder micro- or macrocephaly. Pulldown assays, NIH3T3 fibroblast spreading assays and staining for activated PAK1/2/3 and WAVE2 suggest that these variants increase RAC1 activity and over-activate downstream signalling targets. Axons of neurons isolated from Drosophila embryos expressing the most common of the activating variants are significantly shorter, with an increased density of filopodial protrusions. In vivo, these embryos exhibit frequent defects in axonal organization. Class IV dendritic arborization neurons expressing this variant exhibit a significant reduction in the total area of the dendritic arbour, increased branching and failure of self-avoidance. RNAi knock down of the WAVE regulatory complex component Cyfip significantly rescues these morphological defects. These results establish that activating substitutions affecting residues Q61-R68 within the switch II region of RAC1 cause a developmental syndrome. Our findings reveal that these variants cause altered downstream signalling, resulting in abnormal neuronal morphology and reveal the WAVE regulatory complex/Arp2/3 pathway as a possible therapeutic target for activating RAC1 variants. These insights also have the potential to inform the mechanism and therapy for other disorders caused by variants in genes encoding other Rho GTPases, their regulators and downstream effectors.

De Novo and Bi-allelic Pathogenic Variants in NARS1 Cause Neurodevelopmental Delay Due to Toxic Gain-of-Function and Partial Loss-of-Function Effects.

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) are ubiquitous, ancient enzymes that charge amino acids to cognate tRNA molecules, the essential first step of protein translation. Here, we describe 32 individuals from 21 families, presenting with microcephaly, neurodevelopmental delay, seizures, peripheral neuropathy, and ataxia, with de novo heterozygous and bi-allelic mutations in asparaginyl-tRNA synthetase (NARS1). We demonstrate a reduction in NARS1 mRNA expression as well as in NARS1 enzyme levels and activity in both individual fibroblasts and induced neural progenitor cells (iNPCs). Molecular modeling of the recessive c.1633C>T (p.Arg545Cys) variant shows weaker spatial positioning and tRNA selectivity. We conclude that de novo and bi-allelic mutations in NARS1 are a significant cause of neurodevelopmental disease, where the mechanism for de novo variants could be toxic gain-of-function and for recessive variants, partial loss-of-function.

Third party interpretation of raw genetic data: an ethical exploration.

In the wake of recent regulations targeting direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTC-GT), an increasing number of websites have emerged that offer consumers alternative means to derive health information from their DTC-GT raw data. While the ethical concerns associated with DTC-GT have been extensively discussed in the literature, the implications of third party interpretation (TPI) websites have remained largely unexplored. Here we sought to describe these services and elucidate their ethical implications in the context of the current DTC-GT debate. We reviewed five popular TPI websites that use SNP-based genomic data to report health-related information: Promethease, Interpretome, LiveWello, Codegen.eu, and Enlis Personal. We found that many of the ethical concerns previously described in DTC-GT also applied to TPI websites, including inadequate informed consent, questionable clinical validity and utility, and lack of medical supervision. However, some concerns about data usage and privacy reported in DTC-GT were less prominent in the five TPI websites we studied: none of them sold or shared user data, and 3/5 sites did not retain data in the long term. In addition, while exaggerated claims and inaccurate advertising have been frequently problematic in DTC-GT, advertising was minimal in the TPI sites we assessed, and 4/5 made no claims of health benefits. Overall, TPI adds a new dimension to the ethical debate surrounding DTC-GT, and awareness of these services will become increasingly important as personal genomics continues to expand. This study constitutes the first detailed ethical analysis of these services, and presents a starting point for further research and ethical reflection.

KMT2D p.Gln3575His segregating in a family with autosomal dominant choanal atresia strengthens the Kabuki/CHARGE connection.

Choanal atresia is rarely reported in Kabuki syndrome, but is a common feature of CHARGE syndrome. Otherwise, the two conditions have a number of overlapping features, and the molecular links between them have recently been elucidated. Here, we report a case of a mother and her two children who presented with congenital choanal atresia. We performed whole exome sequencing on DNA from the mother and her two unaffected parents, and identified a de novo, novel variant in KMT2D. KMT2D p.Gln3575His segregated with disease status in the family, and is associated with a unique and conserved phenotype in the affected family members, with features overlapping with Kabuki and CHARGE syndromes. Our findings further support the potential etiological link between these two classically distinct conditions. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.