Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37534744›Full record

ArticleGenetics in medicine : official journal of the American College of Medical Genetics2023

The landscape of reported VUS in multi-gene panel and genomic testing: Time for a change.

Heidi L Rehm, Joseph T Alaimo, Swaroop Aradhya, Pinar Bayrak-Toydemir, Hunter Best, Rhonda Brandon, Jillian G Buchan, Elizabeth C Chao, Elaine Chen, Jacob Clifford and 53 more

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Genetics in medicine : official journal of the American College of Medical Genetics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 75 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
75citing papers in PubMed
38.5field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

75 citing papers in PubMed, 121 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
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  9. Spectrum of dominant Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease due toJournal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry · 2026
    Article
  10. Article
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  14. Review
  15. Not "just a VUS".Genetics in medicine open · 2026
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
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  20. Article

15 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

63 authors at 20 institutions in 2 countries.

Heidi L RehmCenter for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA; Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA; Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Electronic address: hrehm@mgh.harvard.edu.
Joseph T AlaimoDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO; Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO; Genomic Medicine Center, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO.
Swaroop AradhyaInvitae, San Francisco, CA; Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA.
Pinar Bayrak-ToydemirARUP Laboratories, Salt Lake City, UT; Department of Pathology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT.
Hunter BestARUP Laboratories, Salt Lake City, UT; Department of Pathology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT.
Rhonda BrandonGeneDx, LLC, Gaithersburg, MD.
Jillian G BuchanGenetics Division, Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Elizabeth C ChaoAmbry Genetics, Aliso Viejo, CA.
Elaine ChenInvitae, San Francisco, CA.
Jacob CliffordAmbry Genetics, Aliso Viejo, CA.
Ana S A CohenDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO; Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO; Genomic Medicine Center, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO.
Laura K ConlinDivision of Genomic Diagnostics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
Soma DasHuman Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
Kyle W DavisVariantyx, Framingham, MA.
Daniela Del GaudioHuman Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
Florencia Del VisoDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO.
Christina DiVincenzoQuest Diagnostics, Marlborough, MA.
Marcia EisenbergWomen's Health and Genetics, Labcorp, Research Triangle Park, NC.
Lucia GuidugliRady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine, San Diego, CA.
Monia B HammerRady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine, San Diego, CA.
Steven M HarrisonAmbry Genetics, Aliso Viejo, CA.
Kathryn E HatchellInvitae, San Francisco, CA.
Lindsay Havens DyerGeneDx, LLC, Gaithersburg, MD.
Lily U HoangAmbry Genetics, Aliso Viejo, CA.
James M HoltHudsonAlpha Clinical Services Lab, LLC, Huntsville, AL.
Vaidehi JobanputraMolecular Diagnostics, New York Genome Center, New York, NY; Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY.
Izabela D KarbassiQuest Diagnostics, Marlborough, MA.
Hutton M KearneyDivision of Laboratory Genetics and Genomics, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
Melissa A KellyHudsonAlpha Clinical Services Lab, LLC, Huntsville, AL.
Jacob M KellyHudsonAlpha Clinical Services Lab, LLC, Huntsville, AL.
Michelle L KlugeDivision of Laboratory Genetics and Genomics, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
Timothy KomalaAmbry Genetics, Aliso Viejo, CA.
Paul KruszkaGeneDx, LLC, Gaithersburg, MD.
Lynette LauDivision of Genome Diagnostics, Department of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Matthew S LeboPathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Mass General Brigham, Cambridge, MA.
Christian R MarshallDivision of Genome Diagnostics, Department of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Dianalee McKnightInvitae, San Francisco, CA.
Kirsty McWalterGeneDx, LLC, Gaithersburg, MD.
Yan MengFulgent Genetics, Temple City, CA.
Narasimhan NaganWomen's Health and Genetics, Labcorp, Westborough, MA.
Christian S NeckelmannFulgent Genetics, Temple City, CA.
Nir NeermanVariantyx, Framingham, MA.
Zhiyv NiuDivision of Laboratory Genetics and Genomics, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
Vitoria K PaolilloDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO.
Sarah A PaolucciGenetics Division, Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Denise PerryIllumina, Inc, San Diego, CA.
Tina PesaranAmbry Genetics, Aliso Viejo, CA.
Kelly RadtkeAmbry Genetics, Aliso Viejo, CA.
Kristen J RasmussenDivision of Laboratory Genetics and Genomics, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
Kyle RettererGeneDx, LLC, Gaithersburg, MD.
Carol J SaundersDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO; Genomic Medicine Center, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO; Department of Pediatrics and Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO.
Elizabeth SpiteriDepartment of Pathology, Stanford Medicine, Palo Alto, CA.
Christine StanleyVariantyx, Framingham, MA.
Anna SzutoClinical and Metabolic Genetics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Ryan J TaftIllumina, Inc, San Diego, CA.
Isabelle ThiffaultDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO; Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO; Genomic Medicine Center, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO.
Brittany C ThomasIllumina, Inc, San Diego, CA.
Amanda Thomas-WilsonMolecular Diagnostics, New York Genome Center, New York, NY.
Erin ThorpeIllumina, Inc, San Diego, CA.
Timothy J TidwellARUP Laboratories, Salt Lake City, UT.
Meghan C TowneAmbry Genetics, Aliso Viejo, CA.
Hana ZoukPathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Mass General Brigham, Cambridge, MA.
Medical Genome Initiative Steering Committee
Ambry Genetics (United States) · USChildren's Mercy Hospital · USIllumina (United States) · USInvitae (United States) · USMayo Clinic · USHudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology · USBroad Institute · USChildren’s Institute · USColumbia University Irving Medical Center · USHarvard University · USHospital for Sick Children · CALabCorp (United States) · USQuest Diagnostics (United States) · USUniversity of Chicago · USUniversity of Toronto · CAUniversity of Utah · USUniversity of Washington · USARUP Laboratories (United States) · USChildren's Hospital of Philadelphia · USNew York Genome Center · US

Funding

ClinGen AI Data Delivery SupplementU24HG006834 · NHGRI · BROAD INSTITUTE, INC. · PI Marina DiStefano, CHRISTA LESE MARTIN · 2021 to 2026
$26.7M
NHGRI NIH HHS U24 HG006834
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeVariants of uncertain significance (VUS) are a common result of diagnostic genetic testing and can be difficult to manage with potential misinterpretation and downstream costs, including time investment by clinicians. We investigated the rate of VUS reported on diagnostic testing via multi-gene panels (MGPs) and exome and genome sequencing (ES/GS) to measure the magnitude of uncertain results and explore ways to reduce their potentially detrimental impact.

methodsRates of inconclusive results due to VUS were collected from over 1.5 million sequencing test results from 19 clinical laboratories in North America from 2020 to 2021.

resultsWe found a lower rate of inconclusive test results due to VUSs from ES/GS (22.5%) compared with MGPs (32.6%; P < .0001). For MGPs, the rate of inconclusive results correlated with panel size. The use of trios reduced inconclusive rates (18.9% vs 27.6%; P < .0001), whereas the use of GS compared with ES had no impact (22.2% vs 22.6%; P = ns).

conclusionThe high rate of VUS observed in diagnostic MGP testing warrants examining current variant reporting practices. We propose several approaches to reduce reported VUS rates, while directing clinician resources toward important VUS follow-up.

Indexed as

Genetic Predisposition to DiseaseGenetic TestingExomeGenomicsHumansNorth AmericaLaboratory reporting methodsMulti-gene panelsVariants of uncertain significanceVUS

Identifiers

PMID37534744
PMCPMC10825061
OpenAlexW4385389163

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.