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Davidson AL, Dressel U, Norris S, Canson DM, Glubb DM, Fortuno C, Hollway GE, Parsons MT, Vidgen ME, Holmes O, Koufariotis LT, Lakis V, Leonard C, Wood S, Xu Q, McCart Reed AE, Pickett HA, Al-Shinnag MK, Austin RL, Burke J, Cops EJ, Nichols CB, Goodwin A, Harris MT, Higgins MJ, Ip EL, Kiraly-Borri C, Lau C, Mansour JL, Millward MW, Monnik MJ, Pachter NS, Ragunathan A, Susman RD, Townshend SL, Trainer AH, Troth SL, Tucker KM, Wallis MJ, Walsh M, Williams RA, Winship IM, Newell F, Tudini E, Pearson JV, Poplawski NK, Mar Fan HG, James PA, Spurdle AB, Waddell N, Ward RL. The clinical utility and costs of whole-genome sequencing to detect cancer susceptibility variants-a multi-site prospective cohort study. Genome Med 2023; 15:74. [PMID: 37723522 PMCID: PMC10507925 DOI: 10.1186/s13073-023-01223-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2022] [Accepted: 08/18/2023] [Indexed: 09/20/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Many families and individuals do not meet criteria for a known hereditary cancer syndrome but display unusual clusters of cancers. These families may carry pathogenic variants in cancer predisposition genes and be at higher risk for developing cancer. METHODS This multi-centre prospective study recruited 195 cancer-affected participants suspected to have a hereditary cancer syndrome for whom previous clinical targeted genetic testing was either not informative or not available. To identify pathogenic disease-causing variants explaining participant presentation, germline whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and a comprehensive cancer virtual gene panel analysis were undertaken. RESULTS Pathogenic variants consistent with the presenting cancer(s) were identified in 5.1% (10/195) of participants and pathogenic variants considered secondary findings with potential risk management implications were identified in another 9.7% (19/195) of participants. Health economic analysis estimated the marginal cost per case with an actionable variant was significantly lower for upfront WGS with virtual panel ($8744AUD) compared to standard testing followed by WGS ($24,894AUD). Financial analysis suggests that national adoption of diagnostic WGS testing would require a ninefold increase in government annual expenditure compared to conventional testing. CONCLUSIONS These findings make a case for replacing conventional testing with WGS to deliver clinically important benefits for cancer patients and families. The uptake of such an approach will depend on the perspectives of different payers on affordability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aimee L Davidson
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Uwe Dressel
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Sarah Norris
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, L2.22 The Quadrangle (A14), Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
| | - Daffodil M Canson
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Dylan M Glubb
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Cristina Fortuno
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Georgina E Hollway
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Michael T Parsons
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Miranda E Vidgen
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Australian Genomics, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Oliver Holmes
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Lambros T Koufariotis
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Vanessa Lakis
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Conrad Leonard
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Scott Wood
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Qinying Xu
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Amy E McCart Reed
- Centre for Clinical Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Hilda A Pickett
- Children's Medical Research Institute, University of Sydney, Westmead, NSW, Australia
| | - Mohammad K Al-Shinnag
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Genetic Health Queensland, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, QLD, Australia
| | - Rachel L Austin
- Australian Genomics, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Genetic Health Queensland, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, QLD, Australia
| | - Jo Burke
- Tasmanian Clinical Genetics Service, Royal Hobart Hospital, Hobart, TAS, Australia
| | - Elisa J Cops
- Parkville Familial Cancer Centre, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Cassandra B Nichols
- Genetic Services of Western Australia, King Edward Memorial Hospital, Subiaco, WA, Australia
| | - Annabel Goodwin
- Cancer Genetics Department, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Marion T Harris
- Monash Health Familial Cancer, Monash Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Megan J Higgins
- Genetic Health Queensland, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, QLD, Australia
| | - Emilia L Ip
- Cancer Genetics, Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | | | - Chiyan Lau
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Genomics, Pathology Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Julia L Mansour
- Tasmanian Clinical Genetics Service, Royal Hobart Hospital, Hobart, TAS, Australia
| | - Michael W Millward
- Tasmanian Clinical Genetics Service, Royal Hobart Hospital, Hobart, TAS, Australia
| | - Melissa J Monnik
- Adult Genetics Unit, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Nicholas S Pachter
- Genetic Services of Western Australia, King Edward Memorial Hospital, Subiaco, WA, Australia
- Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Abiramy Ragunathan
- Familial Cancer Services, The Crown Princess Mary Cancer Centre, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW, Australia
| | - Rachel D Susman
- Genetic Health Queensland, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, QLD, Australia
| | - Sharron L Townshend
- Genetic Services of Western Australia, King Edward Memorial Hospital, Subiaco, WA, Australia
| | - Alison H Trainer
- Parkville Familial Cancer Centre, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Simon L Troth
- Genetic Health Queensland, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, QLD, Australia
| | - Katherine M Tucker
- Prince of Wales Clinical School, UNSW Medicine and Health, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Hereditary Cancer Centre, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Mathew J Wallis
- Tasmanian Clinical Genetics Service, Royal Hobart Hospital, Hobart, TAS, Australia
- School of Medicine and Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia
| | - Maie Walsh
- Parkville Familial Cancer Centre, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Rachel A Williams
- Prince of Wales Clinical School, UNSW Medicine and Health, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Hereditary Cancer Centre, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Ingrid M Winship
- Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Genomic Medicine and Familial Cancer Clinic, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Felicity Newell
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Emma Tudini
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Australian Genomics, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - John V Pearson
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Nicola K Poplawski
- Adult Genetics Unit, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, SA, Australia
- Adelaide Medical School, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Helen G Mar Fan
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Genetic Health Queensland, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, QLD, Australia
| | - Paul A James
- Parkville Familial Cancer Centre, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Amanda B Spurdle
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
| | - Nicola Waddell
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston QLD 4006, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Robyn L Ward
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, L2.22 The Quadrangle (A14), Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia.
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Davidson AL, Kondrashova O, Leonard C, Wood S, Tudini E, Hollway GE, Pearson JV, Newell F, Spurdle AB, Waddell N. Analysis of hereditary cancer gene variant classifications from ClinVar indicates a need for regular reassessment of clinical assertions. Hum Mutat 2022; 43:2054-2062. [PMID: 36095262 DOI: 10.1002/humu.24468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2022] [Revised: 06/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
The clinical classification of variants may change with new information, however, there is limited guidance on how often significant changes in variant classification occur. We used ClinVar to examine how variant classification changes over time. We developed a custom parser and accessed variant data from ClinVar between January 2015 and July 2021. The ClinVar-assigned "aggregate" classification of variants in 121 hereditary cancer genes was harmonized across releases to align to the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics and the Association for Molecular Pathology terms. Aggregate classification categories were grouped as: benign/likely benign (B/LB); likely pathogenic/pathogenic (LP/P); variant of uncertain significance (VUS); conflicting interpretations of pathogenicity (Conflicting); or Other. We profiled changes in aggregate variant classification between consecutive semi-annual ClinVar releases. The proportion of variants that changed aggregate classification between semi-annual ClinVar releases ranged from 0.6% to 6.4%. The most frequent changes were "VUS to conflicting," "other to LP/P," and "B/LB to Conflicting." A limited number of variants changed aggregate classification from "LP/P to B/LB," or vice versa. Our analysis indicates need for regular reassessment of clinical variant interpretations. The parser developed for this project will facilitate extraction of relevant interpretation data from ClinVar.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aimee L Davidson
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.,Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Olga Kondrashova
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Conrad Leonard
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Scott Wood
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Emma Tudini
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.,Australian Genomics, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Georgina E Hollway
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - John V Pearson
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Felicity Newell
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Amanda B Spurdle
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Nicola Waddell
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.,Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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Goddard KAB, Lee K, Buchanan AH, Powell BC, Hunter JE. Establishing the Medical Actionability of Genomic Variants. Annu Rev Genomics Hum Genet 2022; 23:173-192. [PMID: 35363504 PMCID: PMC10184682 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-genom-111021-032401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Actionability is an important concept in medicine that does not have a well-accepted standard definition, nor is there a general consensus on how to establish it. Medical actionability is often conflated with clinical utility, a related but distinct concept. This lack of clarity contributes to practice variation and inconsistent coverage decisions in genomic medicine, leading to the potential for systematic bias in the use of evidence-based interventions. We clarify how medical actionability and clinical utility are distinct and then discuss the spectrum of actionability, including benefits for the person, the family, and society. We also describe applications across the life course, including prediction, diagnosis, and treatment. Current challenges in assessing the medical actionability of identified genomic variants include gaps in the evidence, limited contexts with practice guidelines, and subjective aspects of medical actionability. A standardized and authoritative assessment of medical actionability is critical to implementing genomic medicine in a fashion that improves population health outcomes and reduces health disparities. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics, Volume 23 is October 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katrina A B Goddard
- Department of Translational and Applied Genomics, Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Portland, Oregon, USA; .,Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; , .,Genomic Medicine Institute, Geisinger Health System, Danville, Pennsylvania, USA; .,Genomics, Ethics, and Translational Research Program, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA;
| | - Kristy Lee
- Department of Translational and Applied Genomics, Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Portland, Oregon, USA; .,Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; , .,Genomic Medicine Institute, Geisinger Health System, Danville, Pennsylvania, USA; .,Genomics, Ethics, and Translational Research Program, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA;
| | - Adam H Buchanan
- Department of Translational and Applied Genomics, Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Portland, Oregon, USA; .,Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; , .,Genomic Medicine Institute, Geisinger Health System, Danville, Pennsylvania, USA; .,Genomics, Ethics, and Translational Research Program, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA;
| | - Bradford C Powell
- Department of Translational and Applied Genomics, Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Portland, Oregon, USA; .,Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; , .,Genomic Medicine Institute, Geisinger Health System, Danville, Pennsylvania, USA; .,Genomics, Ethics, and Translational Research Program, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA;
| | - Jessica Ezzell Hunter
- Department of Translational and Applied Genomics, Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Portland, Oregon, USA; .,Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; , .,Genomic Medicine Institute, Geisinger Health System, Danville, Pennsylvania, USA; .,Genomics, Ethics, and Translational Research Program, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA;
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