Full text



Sarah Elisabeth Brnich


Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology

Chapel Hill 2020


ii ©2020



Sarah Elisabeth Brnich: Examining the role of functional assays in clinical variant interpretation

(Under the direction of Jonathan S. Berg)

Genomic sequencing is poised for clinical application in diagnosis and management of patients, as well as pre-symptomatic screening in healthy individuals. To accomplish these goals, additional tools are required for clinical interpretation of human genetic variation. Variant interpretation guidelines, such as those established by the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) and the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP), provide a general framework for this process, but significant gaps exist in the ability to utilize evidence such as functional assays in the determination of clinical significance. Increased implementation of genetic testing has identified millions of individual variants, but the majority of these remain in the category of variant of uncertain significance (VUS) due to insufficient available evidence. VUS cannot be used for clinical decision-making or risk assessment and thus complicate patient counseling. As such, potentially thousands of disease-associated genes are in need of functional assays to interrogate the significance of the complete allelic series of human variation. This effort will require


functional evidence impacts clinical interpretation of missense VUS, permitting standardized prioritization of functional assays to develop and variants to assess. Next, I developed consensus recommendations and a structured procedure for systematically evaluating and applying existing functional evidence in the clinical interpretation of germline genetic variants. Included in this framework is a method for determining the evidence strength that can be applied based on given assay validation parameters. Finally, I validated a cell-based fluorescent reporter assay of variant-level DNA damage repair (DDR) outcomes in

hereditary breast cancer genes, BRCA2 and PALB2. After benchmarking the assay with BRCA2 variants of known significance, I tested 25 PALB2 missense VUS alongside benign and truncating variant controls. This represents a novel pathway-based approach to assay validation for genes that have been limited by the availability of benchmarking controls. Seven PALB2 missense variants demonstrated an abnormal functional impact on DDR with a moderate level of evidence, suggesting that PALB2 missense variation in critical functional domains may have a larger role in disease pathogenesis than previously thought. In all, the body of work presented in this dissertation will advance the science of medicine by



I would like to thank the many people who contributed to the work represented in this dissertation, either directly or indirectly, by supporting and guiding me throughout my PhD. First and foremost, thank you to my PhD mentor, Dr. Jonathan Berg. I am so appreciative for all that you have done to get me here today. In order for me to expand my repertoire of laboratory skills and mature as a scientist, we took a leap of faith and developed a new project that took the lab into cell culture and wet bench work. While it hasn’t been without its challenges, it has been an honor to learn and grow under your guidance, and I am a better scientist and clinician as a result. Thank you for believing in me and for your incredible mentorship. I would also like to recognize the contributions of my other mentors in medical genetics, Dr. Bradford Powell, Dr. Jim Evans, and Cecile Skrzynia, with whom I worked in the multidisciplinary breast cancer clinic. Thank you for your patience as I learned to draw legible pedigrees from family histories, for reading and revising my notes, and for providing career advice and perspective in the field of medical genetics. To my thesis committee members: Drs. Jeff Sekelsky, Dale Ramsden, Karen Mohlke, and Karen Weck, thank you for your thoughtful feedback, practical assistance, and scientific mentorship on this journey.


work made possible the analyses in chapter 2. To former members Christian Tilley, Daniel Marchuk, Michael Adams, and Lacey Boshe, and Gloria Haskell, thank you for your continued friendship and for making my rotation in the lab an experience worth repeating.

Beyond the lab, there are many people at UNC that have been key to my success. I conducted this work as a student in the Medical Scientist Training Program, and I am grateful to the program leadership for their role in my development as a physician-scientist, as well as to my fellow MD/PhD students. In particular, it was a joy to work in close proximity with Tim Dinh when I was embarking on tissue culture and western blot experiments and Patrick Taus was instrumental in optimizing the siRNA-mediated knockdown technique used in Chapter 4. I’d also like to thank Janet Dow in the Flow Cytometry Core at UNC for her critical assistance with instrumentation and data collection. Outside of UNC, I am thankful for our collaborators around the world that contributed to my project and professional

development. It has been a pleasure to learn in the collaborative environment fostered by ClinGen and I appreciate your assistance and genuine interest in my work. Thank you to all that contributed to the recommendations we set forth in chapter 3, either as an author or through thoughtful feedback.

Thank you, Professor Mike Roberts, for sparking my interest in translational research and pushing me towards opportunities that led me to pursue dual-degree training. To

Andrea Llera and my colleagues at FIL in Buenos Aires, thank you for accepting me into your circle, teaching me about clinical research, and for reminding me why I want to be a physician-scientist. To Katie Hoadley, thank you for putting UNC on my radar when I was still in Argentina and for welcoming me when I arrived on campus.


Maggie, thank you for understanding what it’s like to be a grad student and for being just a phone call away whenever I need your advice, even though we haven’t lived in the same state in nearly 10 years. Thank you to Magdalena, who provided daily encouragement during the writing of this dissertation all the way from Chile, ran with me when I was stressed, and celebrated my successes like they were her own. I’d like to also thank the Hogan family – I can always count on you to cheer me on.

To my family -- Mom, Dad, Molly, and Bec -- I am so grateful for your love and unfaltering support throughout my life. Mom and Dad, thank you for instilling in me the work ethic and ambition I needed to succeed, for always encouraging me, and for doing

everything to make this possible. To my sisters, you both inspire me greatly and are always there when I need you.

Last, but certainly not least, I owe a tremendous thank you to Conor. Thank you for listening to countless practice talks and complaints about science you didn’t understand, explaining statistics that I didn’t understand, keeping me company while I ran experiments over the weekend, teaching me the value of work-life balance, providing comedy relief when I needed it, and for your unwavering love and support.



Chapter 1 contains text and an adapted figure from an article published prior to the writing of this dissertation with the following citation:

Strande NT, Brnich SE, Roman TS, Berg JS. Navigating the nuances of clinical sequence variant interpretation in Mendelian disease. Genet Med. 2018;20(9): 918-926. doi:10.1038/s41436-018-0100-y.

Permission to include portions of this article in a PhD dissertation was obtained from Springer Nature, the publisher of Genetics in Medicine.

Chapter 2 represents work that was published prior to writing this dissertation with the following citation:

Brnich SE, Rivera-Muñoz EA, Berg JS. Quantifying the potential of functional evidence to reclassify variants of uncertain significance in the categorical and Bayesian interpretation frameworks. Hum Mutat. 2018 Nov;39(11):1531-1541. doi: 10.1002/humu.23609. Epub 2018 Sep 5.

Permission to include this article in its entirety in a PhD dissertation was obtained from John Wiley and Sons, the publisher of Human Mutation.

Chapter 3 represents work that was published prior to writing this dissertation with the following citation:

Brnich, S.E., Abou Tayoun, A.N., Couch, F.J. et al. Recommendations for application of the functional evidence PS3/BS3 criterion using the ACMG/AMP sequence variant interpretation framework. Genome Med. 2019 Dec 31;12(1):3. doi: 10.1186/s13073-019-0690-2.







1.1 Genetic variation and human disease ... 1

1.2 Clinical variant interpretation ... 4

1.3 Variants of uncertain significance (VUS) ... 9

1.4 Functional assay criteria ... 10

1.5 Addressing gaps with ClinGen Expert Panels ... 12

1.6 Focus of this dissertation ... 13


2.1 Introduction ... 14

2.2 Methods ... 17

2.3 Results ... 24

2.4 Discussion ... 29

2.5 Supplemental material ... 34



3.2 Methods ... 41

3.3 Points to consider and general recommendations ... 42

3.4 Provisional framework for functional evidence evaluation and application ... 52

3.5 Discussion ... 59

3.6 Supplemental material ... 62


4.1 Introduction ... 65

4.2 Materials and methods ... 66

4.3 Results ... 77

4.4 Discussion ... 92

4.5 Supplemental material ... 102

Table 4.5: Predicted effectof PALB2 single nucleotide missense variants ... 107

Table 4.6: TLR performance compared to recent publications ... 108




Table 2.1: Expert-curated variants meeting functional criteria (PS3/BS3). ... 35

Table 2.2: Expert-curated variants not meeting functional criteria (PS3/BS3). ... 38

Table 3.1: Text of Original ACMG/AMP Recommendation for Functional Assays ... 40

Table 3.2: Components of the structured narrative describing the gene-disease mechanism ... 53

Table 3.3: Evidence strength equivalent of Odds of Pathogenicity ... 56

Table 3.4 Odds of Pathogenicity (OddsPath) estimates for a perfect binary readout ... 63

Table 3.5 Odds of Pathogenicity (OddsPath) estimates for a perfect binary readout ... 64

Table 4.1: Confidence intervals of BRCA2 mean HR/NHEJ readout ... 82

Table 4.2: Sanger sequencing primers ... 104

Table 4.3: BRCA2 site-directed mutagenesis primers ... 105

Table 4.4: PALB2 site-directed mutagenesis primers ... 106




Figure 1.1: ACMG/AMP evidence codes for classifying sequence variants

organized by data type and strength ... 5

Figure 2.1: ACMG/AMP categorical combining rules for variant classification ... 15

Figure 2.2: ACMG/AMP evidence codes for classifying sequence variants as applicable to variant molecular consequence ... 18

Figure 2.3: Reclassifying missense VUS evidence combinations in the categorical ACMG/AMP framework and the adapted Bayesian framework ... 23

Figure 2.4: Non-conflicting missense variants classified as VUS by expert panels ... 26

Figure 2.5: Expert-curated missense variants with conflicting evidence ... 28

Figure 3.1: Assembly of variant controls to set readout thresholds for normal and abnormal function ... 51

Figure 3.2: Decision tree for evaluation of functional data for clinical variant interpretation ... 54

Figure 4.1: TLR assay diagram ... 69

Figure 4.2: TLR assay timeline ... 72

Figure 4.3: Preliminary TLR reporter validation ... 78

Figure 4.4: Timing DSB repair by flow cytometry ... 79

Figure 4.5: Time course of siRNA-mediated knockdown of PALB2 ... 80

Figure 4.6: TLR’s performance for BRCA2 gold standard variants. ... 81

Figure 4.7: Representative flow plots ... 83

Figure 4.8: PALB2 data & variants tested ... 85

Figure 4.9: Monitoring PALB2 variant re-expression ... 88

Figure 4.10: Correlation of HR/NHEJ and in silicopredictors ... 91

Figure 4.11: HR/NHEJ correlates with published HR functional data ... 92

Figure 4.12: Timing of PALB2 protein knockdown after siRNA transfection ... 102



°C Degrees Celsius

⍺ Alpha

293T/TLR HEK293T/17 cells with stably integrated TLR construct ACMG American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics alt-NHEJ alternative non-homologous end-joining

AMP Association for Molecular Pathology ATCC American Type Culture Collection

B Benign

B2M Beta-2 microglobulin gene

BA1 Allele frequency data as stand-alone evidence of benign impact BFP Blue fluorescent protein

bp Base pair

BP3 In-frame insertion or deletion, supporting evidence of benign impact BP4 Computational, supporting-level evidence of benign impact

BP6 Reputable source criteria, supporting-level evidence for benign BP7 Synonymous variant, supporting evidence of benign impact BRCA1 Breast cancer gene 1

BRCA2 Breast cancer gene 2

BS1 Allele frequency greater than expected for disease, strong evidence of benign impact

BS3 Functional evidence in strong support of a benign classification BS3_Supporting BS3 criteria at a supporting strength level

BSA Bovine serum albumin

CAID Canonical Allele Identifier

CADD Combined Annotation Dependent Depletion


CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

cDNA Complementary DNA

ChAM Chromatin association motif

CLIA Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments ClinGen Clinical Genome Resource

ClinVar Clinical Variant database CMP-EP Cardiomyopathy Expert Panel co-IP Co-immunoprecipitation

CO2 Carbon dioxide

CRISPR Clustered regularly interspersed short palindromic repeats D-PBS Dulbecco’s Phosphate-Buffered Saline

DDR DNA damage repair

DMEM-H Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium- High Glucose DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid

DOI Digital Object Identifier

DR-GFP Direct repeat green fluorescent protein

DSB Double strand break

DTT Dithiothreitol

ENIGMA Evidence-based Network for the Interpretation of Germline Mutant Alleles

EP Expert panel

FACS Fluorescence-activated cell sorting

FBS Fetal bovine serum

g Gravity of Earth

GAPDH Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase GFP Green fluorescent protein


HDR Homology-directed repair

HR Homologous recombination

HR/NHEJ Ratio of HR to NHEJ events I-SceI Intron-encoded endonuclease

IARC International Agency for Research on Cancer IFP Infrared fluorescent protein

IgG Immunoglobulin G

InSiGHT International Society for Gastrointestinal Hereditary Tumors

KO Knockout

LB Likely benign

LP Likely pathogenic

MAF Minor allele frequency

MAVE Multiplexed assays of variant effect mES Mouse embryonic stem cell

µg Microgram

mL Milliliter

mM Millimolar

mm Millimeter

MMC Mitomycin C

mRNA Messenger ribonucleic acid

mutGFP Mutant GFP

N Number tested

N/A Not applicable/available

NCCN National Comprehensive Cancer Network

ng Nanograms


nM Nanomolar

nm Nanometer

NMD Nonsense-mediated decay

OddsPath Odds of pathogenicity

P Pathogenic

PALB2 Partner and Localizer of BRCA2

PARPi Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor PCR Polymerase chain reaction

PM4 Protein length changes as a result of in-frame deletions/insertions in a nonrepeat region or stop-loss variant, moderate-level evidence of pathogenic impact

PMID PubMed Identifier

PMSF Phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride Post_P Posterior probability of pathogenicity

PP3 Computational, supporting-level evidence of pathogenic impact PP4 Phenotype is highly specific for disease, supporting-level evidence for


PP5 Reputable source criteria, supporting-level evidence for pathogenicity Prior_P Prior probability of pathogenicity

PS3 Functional evidence in strong support of a pathogenic classification PS3_Moderate PS3 criteria at a moderate strength level

PS4 Prevalence in affected individuals is significantly increased relative to controls, strong evidence of pathogenic impact

PVDF Polyvinylidene difluoride

PVS1 Null variant where loss-of-function is a known mechanism of disease, very strong evidence of pathogenicity

R2 Squared correlation coefficient

RAD51 RAD51 Recombinase


REVEL Rare Exome Variant Ensemble Learner

RNA Ribonucleic acid

rs ID Reference SNP identification number RT-PCR Real-time polymerase chain reaction SIFT Sorting Intolerant From Tolerant siNT Non-targeting control siRNA siRNA Small interfering RNA

SNP Single nucleotide polymorphism SNV Single nucleotide variant

SVI Sequence Variant Interpretation Working Group TBS Tris-buffered saline

TLR Traffic Light Reporter truncGFP Truncated GFP

UBB Ubiquitin B

V Volts

VCEP Variant Curation Expert Panel VCI Variant Curation Interface

VUS Variant of Uncertain Significance

WD40 WD40-repeat domain




1.1 Genetic variation and human disease

Utilizing genetic information for precision medicine requires thorough understanding of sequence variation and causality across all diseases.1 For complex multifactorial

diseases, such as diabetes, many common genetic variants make small contributions to disease risk, in combination with multiple non-genetic factors.2 Multifactorial contributions to

disease etiology are interrogated by statistical means (e.g. Genome-Wide Association Studies), but the clinical utility of this information is currently limited by its poor predictive power. In contrast, Mendelian or monogenic disorders are characterized by rare variants in a single gene with a high impact on disease risk.3 In general, assertion of variant

pathogenicity for a Mendelian disorder implies causality, although this does not always correlate with manifestations of disease. For example, in hereditary conditions that are characterized by increased cancer risks, the phenotype of each individual may vary due to incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity. While some disease mechanisms fall between these categories, arising from a combination of common variants of low effect and rare variants of greater effect, the binary approach (monogenic versus multifactorial) is currently the predominant organizing framework for disease causality.

Genetics of hereditary breast cancer

Tumor suppressors have an important role in cancer pathogenesis. In hereditary


breast cancer in particular, germline defects in several tumor suppressor genes have been implicated in increased risk of disease. Most notably, mutations in breast cancer genes 1 and 2 (BRCA1 and BRCA2) were found to increase risk of breast cancer, with about a 72% or 69% risk for developing breast cancer by age 80, respectively, as well as increased risk for ovarian cancer.4 Other implicated genes that are commonly tested in germline panel

testing include ATM, TP53, PALB2 and PTEN.5

In the United States, about 13% of women will develop breast cancer at some point in their life.6 Women harboring a pathogenic variant in PALB2 have a 14% lifetime risk of

breast cancer by age 50, which increases to a 35% lifetime risk by age 707, placing it

amongst moderate-to-high breast cancer risk genes8. It is estimated that 0.6-3% of patients

with breast cancer have a pathogenic PALB2 variant, depending on the population.7,9 One

study found that breast cancer patients with a germline pathogenic variant in PALB2 had a 10-year survival of 48%, compared to 75% in non-carriers, and 10% developed contralateral breast cancer.10

According to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), finding a

germline pathogenic variant by clinical testing in one of these genes triggers a discussion of increased risk of disease and steps to manage that risk, as appropriate.9 Depending on the

risk and penetrance of the particular genetic variant, options may include earlier initiation and increased stringency of screening by mammography or other modalities, as well as the option of risk-reducing mastectomy. For women with a current diagnosis of breast cancer, the finding of a pathogenic germline variant may change treatment options, such as surgical decisions to reduce recurrence risk, and the use of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor (PARPi) therapies, as they have been demonstrated to be effective in a subset of

mutations.11,12 It also prompts cascade testing of family members, such as siblings or


DNA Damage Repair

Many of the genes implicated in hereditary breast cancer are normally involved in the repair of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) double-strand break (DSB) repair. DNA DSBs can occur as a result of exposure to ionizing radiation, topoisomerase inhibitors, crosslinking agents, or endogenous reactive oxygen species.13,14 Without effective repair, cells are

susceptible to chromosome breakage and genome instability. Two of the major pathways of DSB repair are homology-directed repair, or homologous recombination (HR), and non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ). HR is a high-fidelity repair mechanism occurring during G2/S phase that uses a homologous template strand to correctly repair breaks. After a DSB is detected, BRCA1-dependent resection occurs on either end of the break, exposing 3’ single-stranded DNA.13,15 For HR to occur, BRCA1 then recruits PALB2 to the site of

damage, where it can be visualized as foci.16,17 PALB2 in turn loads BRCA2 and RAD51 to

DSB sites and this complex stimulates RAD51-mediated invasion of an intact homologous sequence, which is used as a template for hi-fidelity repair.13,15,18

Canonical NHEJ is active throughout the cell cycle, repairing breaks when HR is not possible by joining fully complementary ends through ligation.19 Alternative NHEJ

(alt-NHEJ), however is an error-prone mechanism involving PARP1 and other factors that leads to small insertions and deletions.14,19,20 Defects in HR and a reliance on NHEJ leads to a

pattern of genome-wide instability and an accumulation of mutations, as seen in tumors with germline pathogenic variants in PALB2, BRCA1, and BRCA2.21,22


PALB2 is located on chromosome 16p12.2 and consists of 13 exons that encode a

1186 amino acid protein.23PALB2 was first implicated in carcinogenesis based on

observations in breast cancer patients with mutations in BRCA2 that disrupted BRCA2-PALB2 binding and thus HR efficiency.16 Subsequent studies of familial breast cancer and


predisposition.24,25BRCA1 mutations that disrupt BRCA1-PALB2 complex formation and

impair HR have also been found in cancer patients.17 PALB2 mediates DNA-loading of the

BRCA2-RAD51 repair complex.16 PALB2 also binds KEAP1 as an oxidative stress sensor26

and associates with nucleosome core histones H3 and H2B through its central chromatin-association motif (ChAM).27

Historically, germline pathogenic variants in PALB2 have been truncating (nonsense or frameshift) variants and have demonstrated defective HR and a reliance on error-prone alt-NHEJ, leading to a pattern of genome-wide mutations.21,22 Recent studies provide

evidence that some missense variants in PALB2 also demonstrate defective HR and may be pathogenic.28–31 While these studies are promising, a lack of benchmarking controls has

limited our ability to establish well-validated functional assays to evaluate the impact of other

PALB2 missense variants on HR for use in clinical variant interpretation.

Other hereditary cancer genes in the HR pathway have been sufficiently well-studied and have good benchmarking controls. For example, in BRCA2, missense variants have been characterized by their capacity for HR following induced DNA DSBs using a

fluorescent reporter assay where GFP served as a marker for HR.32 Benign variants retain

HR capacity and thus strongly express GFP, while pathogenic variants defective for HR do not. The established BRCA2 benign and pathogenic variants used in developing this assay constitute a gold standard panel for functional assay validation.33 In chapter 4, we evaluated

whether we could use these same BRCA2 gold standard missense variants to benchmark an assay of DNA damage repair for PALB2 missense variants.

1.2 Clinical variant interpretation

In lieu of formal statistical approaches, significant efforts have been made to develop guidelines describing the evidence types needed to assess variants implicated in Mendelian diseases.34–36 This dissertation focuses on the evidence types articulated by the clinical


respect to a monogenic disorder, and the nuances inherent in combining the available evidence to arrive at a clinical interpretation. Accurate and efficient clinical variant interpretation is one of the greatest challenges to broad application of genomic medicine and is critical for understanding disease and counseling patients.

Variant interpretation considers patient phenotype, population data, and an appraisal of the literature for each variant (Figure 1.1).37 Professional organizations such as the

American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) and Association for

Molecular Pathology (AMP) have variant interpretation guidelines that incorporate different types of evidence (patient phenotype, population frequency, segregation and allelic

evidence, computational and predictive data, functional assessment) at various levels of strength: (benign supporting (BP1-6), strong (BS1-4), or stand-alone (BA1), or pathogenic supporting (PP1-5), moderate (PM1-6), strong (PS1-4), or very strong (PVS1). These guidelines also provide combining rules for a final classification (benign, likely benign, uncertain significance, likely pathogenic, pathogenic).34

Figure 1.1: ACMG/AMP evidence codes for classifying sequence variants organized by data type and strength. Adapted from Strande et al.38.Evidence codes are divided into

those that support a benign (B) or pathogenic (P) classification (first letter of code) and given a relative strength (second letter of code): VS, very strong; S, strong; M, moderate; and P, supporting. See Richards, et al.34 for complete description of codes. *Odds of pathogenicity

corresponding to evidence strength, assuming a prior probability of 0.10 as would be

anticipated for single-gene analysis39. +BA1 is considered a “stand-alone” evidence type and

was not included in the Bayesian model used to derive the odds of pathogenicity.

Strong Supporting Supporting Moderate Strong Very strong Odds of pathogenicity* -18.7 -2.08 2.08 4.33 18.7 350.0

Da ta t yp e & co rr esp o n d in g ACM G /AM P e vi d en ce co d es

Population BA1+, BS1, BS2

PM2 PS4 Allelic Evidence &


BS4 BP2, BP5 PP1

PM3, PM6 PS2 Computational &


BP1, BP3, BP4, BP7

PP2, PP3 PM1, PM4, PM5


Functional BS3 PS3

Other BP6 PP4, PP5


Evidence types

The first type of evidence typically considered in variant interpretation is population data (codes BA1, BS1, BS2, PM2, and PS4). For example, if the minor allele frequency (MAF) of a variant is higher than the frequency of the disease in question, it is less likely to be causative and thus the BS1 code can be applied. Any variant with MAF above 5% in any global population is considered stand-alone evidence for a benign classification (BA1). Similarly, absence of the variant from controls in population databases is considered moderate pathogenic evidence (PM2). Case-control data demonstrating increased prevalence in an affected population compared to controls provides strong evidence of pathogenicity (PS4). Strong benign evidence (BS2) can be applied when the variant is seen in a healthy individual and it is being evaluated for a highly penetrant condition.

Next, co-segregation data considers whether the variant segregates with disease in family members (codes PS2, PM6, PP1, and BS4). Lack of segregation (e.g. variant inherited from the unaffected parent) is considered strong evidence for a benign classification (BS4). If the variant segregates in affected family members, PP1 can be applied (this strength can be increased with greater co-segregation evidence). Finally, with some caveats, de novo occurrence (unaffected parents test negative for the variant) provides moderate evidence supporting a pathogenic classification (PM6), but can be upgraded to strong evidence (PS2) if biological maternity/paternity are confirmed by identity testing. Allelic evidence (codes PM3, BP2, BP5) typically refers to data about whether the variant occurs in trans with another pathogenic variant (PM3 for recessive conditions or BP2 for autosomal dominant), in cis with a pathogenic variant (BP2), or observed with another pathogenic variant in a different gene with a more compelling molecular basis for individual’s phenotype (BP5).


strong evidence for pathogenicity (PVS1) can be applied for null variants where loss-of-function is a known disease mechanism, while strong evidence (PS1) is met for novel

nucleotide changes that create the same amino acid change as a known pathogenic variant. If the missense change occurs at a residue where a different amino acid change is known to be pathogenic, it qualifies for moderate evidence (PM5). Other predictive criteria often require knowledge of disease mechanism and the types of variants that are tolerated, as this can affect the interpretation. For instance, in a gene where missense changes are rare, PP2 can be applied for missense variants, but if only truncating variants are known to cause disease, BP1 applies. If located in a mutational hotspot, this is moderate evidence of pathogenicity (PM1).

Computational criteria (PP3, BP4) includes in silico predictions of the effect of a particular amino acid change, often based on evolutionary conservation at a given residue and/or differences in the biophysical properties of the new amino acid relative to the native structure. Data from well-established functional assays showing a deleterious effect (PS3) or no effect (BS3) are considered strong evidence in the ACMG/AMP variant interpretation framework and will be discussed in further detail later in this chapter.

Finally, other criteria that do not fit neatly into one of the previously mentioned categories include codes PP4, PP5, and BP6. PP4 applies when the patient’s phenotype is highly specific to a single gene, as in a clinical biochemical test result indicating defective enzyme activity in a particular gene. Codes PP5 and BP6 allow for supporting evidence to be applied when a classification has been previously submitted to a variant database from reputable sources (such as a clinical laboratory with expertise in a particular condition), but the evidence underlying the classification is not provided. More recent guidance has


underlying the reputable source’s interpretation if applied in subsequent classifications.40 Combining rules and conflicting evidence

Richards et al. provided categorical “scoring rules” as a way to combine all of the available evidence for a particular sequence variant into a final interpretation.34 These

criteria list what combinations of evidence, at specific levels of strength, are required to reach a benign, likely benign, likely pathogenic, or pathogenic classification. For example, at least two pieces of evidence supporting a benign classification (evidence codes BP1-7), or one strong and one supporting piece of evidence (codes BS1-4 and BP1-7, respectively) are required to meet the likely benign threshold.

The term “variant of uncertain significance” (VUS) applies in the case of conflicting evidence, or when insufficient evidence is available to reach another classification.34

However, determining what constitutes conflicting evidence is challenging. Although not explicitly stated, the ACMG/AMP guidelines imply that the strength of conflicting evidence should be relatively equivalent. The guidelines do not address how to proceed when the strength of conflicting evidence is unbalanced (i.e. weighted more heavily towards pathogenic or benign). For example, should one piece of supporting evidence bring an interpretation into conflict if other evidence is much stronger? No approved method currently exists for resolving VUS classifications with conflicting evidence.

Bayesian adaptation of ACMG/AMP guidelines

In 2018, Tavtigian and colleagues adapted the categorical 2015 ACMG/AMP combining rules34 to a more quantitative, Bayesian framework.39 This framework

mathematically determines how the probability of variant pathogenicity changes with additional evidence, each weighted according to data-driven estimates.41 Other consortia,

such as the International Society for Gastrointestinal Hereditary Tumors (InSiGHT)42 and the

International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)32,43, and some clinical laboratories44


that it can give more granular estimates of evidence strength. For example, all evidence from the same functional assay does not need to be assigned the same weight. Instead, the readout can be equated to a likelihood ratio and directly incorporated into the variant

interpretation. Another advantage of a quantitative, Bayesian classification framework is the ability to consider both benign and pathogenic evidence together, resolving some of the issues with conflicting evidence.

1.3 Variants of uncertain significance (VUS)

The number of clinically identified genetic variants has increased with the number of available genetic tests.34,37,45 However, our ability to identify these variants on a

genome-wide scale has outpaced our ability to interpret their clinical significance, given the often-limited data connecting variants to disease.

Clinical burden of VUS

Even among genes clearly linked to disease, VUS account for a large amount of total identified variation. At the end of 2019, there were more than 266,750 variants in the Clinical Variant Database (ClinVar) with uncertain significance classifications.45 In PALB2 alone,

1,300 of the 2,682 clinically identified PALB2 variants listed in the ClinVar database46 are

VUS, and ~91% of VUS are missense variants.47 A 2014 study of the prevalence of

reportable PALB2 variants in 1479 patients referred for hereditary breast cancer testing found 12 pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants (0.8%), but 59 VUS in 57 of the 1479 patients (3.9%).48 Of those 59 VUS, 57 were predicted to have a missense consequence in

the translated protein.48 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),

each year about 250,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer, and about 10% of those cases are familial. If 4% of those women carry a VUS in PALB2 that equates to about 10,000 women per year. Between 9,100-9,600 would have a missense variant in PALB2.

Clinical approach to VUS


hereditary cancer, genetic testing is critical for risk assessment and management, since identification of inherited pathogenic variants allows early screening and discussion of prophylactic risk-reduction treatments and surgeries.49 However, VUS cannot be used for

diagnosis or clinical decision-making, creating confusion for patients and clinicians.34,50–52

The case of hereditary breast cancer illustrates the importance of accurate variant

interpretations. Germline genetic testing results influence surgical decisions, both in patients that are seeking treatment for breast cancer, as well as in patients that have not yet

developed breast cancer.53,54 If a VUS is incorrectly interpreted as pathogenic for an

inherited predisposition to cancer, the patient may elect to undergo a risk-reducing prophylactic mastectomy.55 This may still be appropriate in the context of a strong family

history of aggressive breast cancer, but it raises concerns that misunderstanding VUS will lead to inappropriate, irreversible clinical consequences.

1.4 Functional assay criteria

The rarity of most individual VUS limits the collection of patient and family data, thus efforts to resolve VUS classification have focused on computational and functional

approaches because they are not dependent on clinical data.50,56 This represents an

opportunity to define functional assays for many genes and work to decrease the clinical burden of VUS. An important limitation is that functional assays are time-consuming and costly to develop, and there are many genes and VUS in need of functional assessment.50

Decisions on where to focus limited resources are important and should be untaken systematically. In chapter 2 of this dissertation, I assess the theoretical ability of strong functional data to push a VUS towards a benign or pathogenic classification, in both the categorical and Bayesian variant interpretation frameworks. The results of this study provide a method that is foundational for the systematic prioritization of assay development and variant assessment.


subjective application of these criteria, and interlaboratory interpretation differences are not always resolved through data sharing.57 Often, assays are performed in research

laboratories, which may or may not meet clinical laboratory standards. For sufficient

predictive power, functional assays require extensive reproducibility and experimental rigor, including benchmarking against multiple variants with definitive clinical interpretations as determined by genetic or other evidence.56,58–60 An exemplary validated assay is the

homology-directed DNA damage repair (HR) assay employed by Guidugli and colleagues, which demonstrated 100% sensitivity and specificity for pathogenicity determination.33,59,60

A well-validated assay should also provide variant-level evidence of the effect on the gene or gene product to satisfy PS3 or BS3 criteria, whereas assays on patient samples that evaluate biochemical parameters may suggest a specific clinical diagnosis but not pinpoint a causative variant. For example, an in vitro assay of enzyme activity in whole blood from a patient demonstrating impaired enzyme activity implicates the gene encoding the non-functional enzyme, but does not isolate a specific variant’s effect and thus would not meet PS3 criteria. This information might be relevant to the PP4 criteria (patient’s phenotype is highly specific for a disease with a single genetic etiology) but caution is advised in applying this rule.

For clinical interpretation, a functional assay should also be relevant to disease mechanism and manifestation. Cell-based or cell-free in vitroassays and in vivo organismal studies such as zebrafish or mouse models can be used to probe variant effects, but should be closely relate to the known etiology. Cell lines should be disease-relevant and carefully selected; a transformed cell line may not be ideal for isolating a variant’s tumorigenic effects.61 A negative result (equivalent to wild-type function) may support a benign

classification, but should be contingent on how thoroughly the assay evaluates the


not evaluated. Multiple assays that comprehensively probe gene function are likely to better reflect clinical significance. Determining the most appropriate functional assay requires gene- and disease-specific knowledge, often beyond the expertise of variant reviewers.57

This underscores the importance of expert consensus on these issues and the adaptation of the ACMG/AMP guidelines for individual genes or diseases.

1.5 Addressing gaps with ClinGen Expert Panels

The 2015 ACMG/AMP sequence variant interpretation guidelines were intended to be broadly applicable, but by nature of their generality, gene- and disease-specific questions must be individually determined. One aim of the Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen), a National Institute of Health (NIH)-funded consortium, is to resolve differences in variant interpretation across clinical laboratories.62 To do this, ClinGen has established Variant

Curation Expert Panels (VCEPs) with multi-institutional and interdisciplinary membership that are working to refine and specify guidance for gene-disease pairs.63 VCEP criteria

specifications have been developed and applied in ClinVar variant curations for a number of genes and diseases thus far.64–70

An analysis of these expert specifications for PS3/BS3 criteria revealed diversity in how these groups evaluated and applied functional evidence in variant interpretations.71

While differences are to be expected given the variety in conditions examined, basic characteristics and metrics required to qualify a functional assay as “well-established” diverged substantially. For example, requirements for replicates, controls, and thresholds for result interpretation were only specified by two VCEPs each, strength applied ranged from supporting to strong evidence, and statistical analyses were inconsistently applied in the primary literature approved for clinical use.71 The 2015 ACMG/AMP guidelines34 do not

specify how many variant controls are required to reach a particular level of evidence



Altogether, this points to an urgent need to support VCEPs and clinical laboratories with detailed recommendations regarding PS3/BS3 criteria application to improve the harmonization of variant interpretation. Similar guidance has been developed for other ACMG/AMP criteria (BA172, PVS173, PP5/BP640) by the ClinGen Sequence Variant

Interpretation Working Group (SVI), which reviews each criterion systematically for

improvements and oversees VCEP specifications. Chapter 3 of this dissertation refines the definition of a “well- validated” functional assay, offers a preliminary framework for the evaluation and application of functional data in clinical variant interpretation, and includes a method for the determination of evidence strength in collaboration with the ClinGen SVI.

Taking the first step towards reducing the VUS burden in PALB2, chapter 4 presents the development and validation of a pathway-based functional assay for PALB2 missense variation. Since PALB2 has few missense variants with definitive benign and pathogenic interpretations to serve as benchmarking controls, we used well-studied BRCA2 missense variants to perform preliminary validation. This represents a functional assay capable of examining variants in a multi-gene pathway that can be adapted for future multiplexing.

1.6 Focus of this dissertation






2.1 Introduction

Genomic sequencing is primed to advance screening, diagnosis, and management of disease for improved patient care.1 To achieve these goals, additional tools are required

to understand the clinical significance of human genetic variation. Professional

organizations, including the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) and Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP), have developed variant interpretation guidelines to aid in this process.34 Variant interpretation involves an examination of patient

phenotype, population data, and an appraisal of the literature for each variant.37 The

ACMG/AMP guidelines assign a code to each piece of evidence by type (e.g. population, computational prediction, functional, or segregation data) and strength: benign supporting (BP1-6), strong (BS1-4), or stand-alone (BA1), or pathogenic supporting (PP1-5), moderate (PM1-6), strong (PS1-4), or very strong (PVS1). Then, evidence codes are evaluated in combination using a categorical system to assign a variant’s final interpretation along a 5-tiered spectrum from benign to pathogenic34, as represented in Figure 2.1. The “variant of

uncertain significance” (VUS) classification is applied in two situations: variants with conflicting evidence, or variants with insufficient evidence, as is often the case for novel missense variants.34,50


Figure 2.1: ACMG/AMP categorical combining rules for variant classification. Possible evidence combinations are represented alongside the corresponding variant classification according to Richards et al. 2015 combining rules34. The first letter of each evidence code

indicates support towards a pathogenic (P) or benign (B) classification and the second letter indicates the assigned evidence strength: supporting (P), moderate (M), strong (S), very strong (VS), or stand-alone (A). Evidence code boxes are colored by evidence strength. Final classifications are determined by combinations of evidence codes resulting in the following: pathogenic, likely pathogenic, variant of uncertain significance, likely benign, or benign.

















BP BS BP BP BA BS BS Likely Pathogenic Variant of Uncertain Significance Likely Benign Benign Evidence Code Combina!ons



Mix (PP, PM, PS, or PVS) AND (BP or BS)

Insuﬃcient evidence to reach a pathogenic

or benign classifica"on

Strong benign Moderate pathogenic Strong pathogenic Very strong pathogenic


Increased application of genetic testing has identified millions of individual variants, but lacking sufficient evidence for a definitive classification, the majority of these remain in the category of VUS.37,50 Clinical practice guidelines caution against using VUS for risk

assessment and decision-making, which complicates patient counseling and management.34,49,50,52,74

Data from well-established in vivo or in vitro functional studies are considered strong evidence in the ACMG/AMP framework.34 Functional assays can probe a genetic variant’s

effect on the gene or protein product, even in the absence of available patient or

segregation data, providing an attractive approach to reclassify VUS.56,75,76 However, the

impact of functional data on variant classification within the ACMG/AMP interpretation framework has not been assessed.

The Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen) consortium62 established a Sequence

Variant Interpretation (SVI) Work Group to refine and enhance the ACMG/AMP guidelines, providing additional recommendations for specific criteria, supporting gene and disease-specific adaptations through Expert Panel groups, and developing quantitative approaches to variant interpretation. The categorical 2015 ACMG/AMP guidelines for clinical sequence variant interpretation34 were recently adapted to a quantitative, Bayesian framework

described by Tavtigian and colleagues39. Bayesian analysis calculates how the probability of

a hypothesis (e.g. pathogenicity) changes with the addition of evidence from multiple sources41, which can be utilized in variant classification schemes based on data-driven

estimates of weights for each piece of evidence.

In this manuscript, we first used an algorithmic approach to identify the theoretical contribution of well-validated functional assays towards reclassification of missense VUS globally. We examined the categorical ACMG/AMP rule combinations34 and assessed how


the recent Bayesian adaptation of the ACMG/AMP guidelines39. We followed this with

analysis of actual evidence combinations met by missense variants curated through ClinGen’s Inherited Cardiomyopathy Expert Panel (CMP-EP) curation of MYH7-associated cardiomyopathies and RASopathies Expert Panel (RAS-EP) curations of variants in ten established RASopathy-associated genes. These variants served as a case study of functional assays in the context of actual evidence combinations applied in expert variant curation. Importantly, these analyses clarify the utility of functional evidence for clinical variant interpretation in both the categorical and quantitative frameworks. Finally, this analysis lays the groundwork for identifying genes and variants that stand to benefit the most from functional data and thus an evidence-based method for prioritizing assay development and validation.

2.2 Methods

Applicable rules by variant type

We analyzed the ACMG/AMP variant interpretation guidelines to determine the evidence codes applicable to variants grouped by molecular consequence (missense, truncation, in-frame insertion/deletion, or synonymous) (Figure 2.2), in order to focus on the typical scenario of a rare missense VUS. PVS1 applies only to loss-of-function or truncating variants, PM4 refers to variants that affect protein length, BP3 is specific to in-frame

insertions or deletions, and BP7 is specific to synonymous variants.34 We also excluded PP5

and BP6 (reputable source reports) for all variant types, following the recent


Figure 2.2: ACMG/AMP evidence codes for classifying sequence variants as applicable to variant molecular consequence. The first letter of each evidence code indicates support towards a pathogenic (P) or benign (B) variant classification, and is followed by an indicated weight of evidence: supporting (P), moderate (M), strong (S), very strong (VS) or stand-alone (A). See Richards et al.34 for a complete description of each

code. Variant type refers to the molecular consequence (truncating, missense, in-frame indel, synonymous). If evidence applies to the specific variant type, it is indicated with a “/”, while evidence that does not apply is indicated with an “X”.









Evidence Truncating Missense In-frame indel Synonymous














































































































































Algorithm for Combination Rule Assessment

We wrote a Python script that iteratively calculates the resulting variant interpretation from combinations of satisfied evidence codes, using the ACMG/AMP combining rules outlined by Richards and colleagues34. Richards et al. described 30 criteria for variant

classification, which includes 28 uniquely named evidence codes and two that account for the ability to increase the strength of pathogenic segregation evidence (PP1) to moderate or strong.34 For this purpose, we assumed that each piece of evidence considered was

independent and met or not met (coded as one or zero). We set up the guidelines as a permutation problem, defining all possible combinations of evidence as: Comball = 230 = 1,073,741,824.

To create all possible permutations, we used the itertools package product function for Python. Then, each combination was run through a filter to exclude rule combinations that exceeded a maximum of one rule in each of the following categories: population or allele frequency (BA1, BS1, BS2, PS4, PM2), segregation (PP1_Strong, PP1_Moderate, PP1), and de novo variant (PS3 or PM6). Additionally, we grouped inverse rules such that only one of each type could be met (i.e. functional—PS3 or BS3; computational—PP3 or

BP4; segregation—PP1_Strong/PP1_Moderate/PP1 or BS4; allelic—PM3 or BP2). Next, we evaluated and filtered each combination by its applicability to variant type

(truncating, synonymous, missense, in-frame insertion/deletion) according to Figure 2.2. For example, combinations including PVS1 (truncating variant in genes where loss of function is a known mechanism of disease) are binned as “truncating” only, while combinations with criteria that are not specific to a particular molecular consequence were included in all four variant type classes.

As the 2015 ACMG/AMP guidelines34 do not provide a method to resolve conflicting


then assigned a final classification (pathogenic, likely pathogenic, VUS, likely benign, or benign) using the combining criteria described in Table 5 of Richards et al.34.

Algorithmic Analysis of Functional Evidence Impact

We then used this tool to accomplish an analysis of the theoretical utility of a well-validated functional assay, if it were to exist and if the variant were to demonstrate either a damaging effect or no effect on the gene or gene product (PS3 or BS3 in Figure 1 of Richards et al.34). This script generated combinations of the ACMG/AMP criteria for

missense variants resulting in a VUS interpretation due to insufficient, not contradictory, evidence. We then examined which of these possible evidence combinations were missing functional criteria (PS3/BS3) and how adding this type of strong evidence would affect the ability to assert a benign or pathogenic interpretation. We modified the combinations to include PS3 or BS3 and reanalyzed them using the Richards et al. combining criteria34 to

obtain a variant classification. We counted the number of combination scenarios that moved from VUS to other categories.

Bayesian Adaptation of the Combining Rules Algorithm

We next asked how this theoretical permutation analysis would change when adapted to the quantitative Bayesian framework recently described by Tavtigian and colleagues39. We modified the previous script to include contradictory evidence

combinations, as the Bayesian framework provides a method for considering both

pathogenic and benign criteria simultaneously. For each evidence combination previously described, we tallied the included evidence by weighted pathogenicity: supporting,

moderate, strong, or very strong for pathogenic; and supporting or strong for benign. We did not analyze any combinations including stand-alone benign evidence, as meeting this criterion classifies a variant as benign regardless of other evidence, which is contrary to Bayesian reasoning39. We used the tallies (N) of each category (PP, PM, PS, PVS, BP, BS)


OddsPath = 350&'(() *'(+, *'. *(- '(/-0 1') 12( '. 3

2-This then factored into the calculation of the posterior probability of pathogenicity (Post_P) for each combination, using a default prior probability (Prior_P) of 0.10 as previously described39:

Post_P = 4556789:∗7<=><(


Each Post_P was then assigned a variant classification as follows: benign <0.001; 0.001 ≤ likely benign < 0.1; 0.1 ≤ VUS < 0.90; 0.90 ≤ likely pathogenic < 0.99; 0.99 ≤ pathogenic. As an example, if the algorithm generated a combination of evidence including PM2, PP3, and BP1, the OddsPath calculation would be:

OddsPath = 350&B((C *B(+D *E(-F *E(/-B 1B2(C 1E2-F 3= 350 B

D= 4.33 .

The Post_P would then be 0.325 and the combination classified as VUS.

As before, we then analyzed the impact of adding strong functional criteria to evidence classifications that did not include PS3 or BS3 criteria, recalculating the Post_P and reassigning a variant classification. Using the previous example, the Post_P would be 0.900 (likely pathogenic) with PS3, or 0.025 (likely benign) with BS3. We then counted the number of combinations that moved from VUS to another class.

Curated Variant Analysis

Recently, two ClinGen Expert Panels (EPs) published recommendations for adapting the ACMG/AMP variant classification framework for specific genes and diseases64,65. The

ClinGen Inherited Cardiomyopathy Expert Panel (CMP-EP) curated MYH7 variants using reference transcripts LRG_384t1 and NM_000257.3.65 The ClinGen RASopathies Expert

Panel (RAS-EP) curated variants in nine genes using the indicated reference transcripts:

BRAF (LRG_299t1, NM_004333.4), HRAS (NM_005343.2), KRAS (NM_004985.4, NC_000012.12(NM_004985.4)), MAP2K1 (LRG_725t1, NM_002755.3), MAP2K2


NM_002880.3), SHOC2 (LRG_753t1, NM_007373.3), and SOS1 (NM_005633.3)64. Both

groups submitted variants to ClinVar as 3-star expert panel-reviewed interpretations. We examined their published variant curations, including the ACMG/AMP evidence codes satisfied for each variant, to determine the role of strong functional evidence in the application of the ACMG/AMP combining rules for a final variant classification. For each variant, we extracted the evidence codes applied in expert curation from the respective publications and inserted them in a tabular file for analysis.

We asked how many curated variant interpretations included evidence from a well-validated functional assay demonstrating a damaging effect (PS3) or no effect (BS3) on the gene or gene product, and how this evidence affected the overall classification. We sorted variants by satisfaction of PS3 or BS3 criteria and then grouped them by expert panel-assigned classification. We modeled the impact of strong functional evidence (if it were to become available) on variant reclassification by tabulating the curated evidence plus BS3 or PS3 criteria using the combining rules approach described in Table 5 of Richards et al.34.

In addition, we tallied the evidence for and against pathogenicity for each variant according to strength and entered this into the recent Bayesian adapted guidelines39. We


Figure 2.3: Reclassifying missense VUS evidence combinations in the categorical ACMG/AMP framework and the adapted Bayesian framework.(A) Modeling the addition of well-validated functional evidence showing a damaging effect (PS3) or no effect (BS3) to non-conflicting missense variant evidence combinations in the categorical ACMG/AMP framework34 finds 97% of combinations would be reclassified with functional data. (B)

Theoretical conflicting and non-conflicting missense evidence combinations resulting in a VUS classification in the categorical ACMG/AMP combining rules (Prior class categorical) were entered into the Bayesian adaptation39 and the corresponding variant classifications

are shown (New class Bayesian). (C) From the theoretical missense evidence combinations resulting in a VUS classification in (B), we examined those that did not include PS3 or BS3 criteria (Prior Class Bayesian). Modeling the addition of well-validated functional evidence (BS3 or PS3) reclassified all combinations (New class Bayesian) by posterior probability calculations in the Bayesian framework39. ACMG/AMP, American College of Medical

Genetics and Genomics/Association for Molecular Pathology; B, benign; BS3, well-established functional studies show no deleterious effect; LB, likely benign; LP, likely pathogenic; P, pathogenic; PS3, well established functional studies show a deleterious effect; VUS, variant of uncertain significance

Bayesian classification

framework VUS: 970,762

P: 321,602 LP: 239,581

LB: 111,117

B: 13,155 New class (Bayesian)

Prior class (categorical)

VUS: 285,307




VUS: 195

No effect (BS3) Damaging

effect (PS3)

P: 19

LP: 164

LB: 4

B: 3

Addition of well-validated functional data showing:

New class (categorical)

Prior class

(categorical) VUS: 22

VUS: 188



VUS: 76,044

No effect (BS3) Damaging


(PS3) LP: 57,774

LB: 47,582

Addition of well-validated

functional data showing: New class (Bayesian) Prior class

(Bayesian) VUS: 18,270

VUS: 28,462





2.3 Results

Algorithmic Analysis of Theoretical Missense Evidence Combinations

We first used our categorical algorithm to identify the theoretical contribution of well-validated functional assays toward reclassification of missense VUS globally. The

categorical rules called 970,762 missense-applicable evidence combinations “VUS”. Of these, 195 missense evidence combinations returned a VUS classification due to limited, not conflicting, evidence and did not include “strong” pathogenic or benign functional evidence codes (PS3 or BS3). We found that 97% could be reclassified with the addition of strong functional data according to the categorical ACMG/AMP combining rules, suggesting that such assays could substantially improve missense VUS interpretations (Figure 2.3A). Interestingly, this analysis found that satisfaction of the PS3 criterion would be able to reclassify more non-conflicting missense VUS in the categorical framework than the BS3 criterion.

In the categorical framework, adding evidence (of any type) to conflicting VUS does not change variant interpretation, as there are no specifications for how much evidence is required to outweigh conflicting criteria34. This can be modeled in the Bayesian quantitative

framework, however, so we addressed the issue of conflicting evidence in the quantitative adaptation of our Python tool, which contains a formula for calculating the posterior probability of pathogenicity if both pathogenic and benign evidence apply39. Even without

additional evidence, when considering both conflicting and non-conflicting missense VUS evidence combinations in the Bayesian-adapted framework, less than 30% remained VUS (Figure 2.3B). In other words, the quantitative system reclassified about 70% of all missense VUS evidence combinations, likely due to its ability to evaluate a mix of benign and


framework if the functional assay results are in the same direction as the initial probability of pathogenicity.

While this approach reveals the theoretical combinations of evidence that would be amenable to reclassification due to additional functional evidence, it does not evaluate gene- or disease-specific evidence, or indicate the fraction of actual variants that meet those combinations. As such, we followed this theoretical analysis with an examination of publicly available, expertly curated sequence variants for MYH7-associated cardiomyopathies and RASopathies.

Functional Assay Utility in Expert Panel Curation

ClinGen’s RAS-EP and CMP-EP curated evidence for a total of 163 variants in 10 different genes. Of these 163 variants, only 39 met PS3 criteria and expert panels assigned a final classification of pathogenic to all 39. Only one variant (PTPN11 p.Leu560Phe) met BS3 criteria, which in combination with one piece of supporting benign evidence was sufficient to push the final classification from VUS to likely benign (Table 2.1, Supplemental material). It is more difficult to experimentally demonstrate that a variant has no effect on the gene or gene product, as few assays capture all relevant protein functions. Thus, it is


Figure 2.4: Non-conflicting missense variants classified as VUS by expert panels. aEvidence Satisfied, as determined by expert panels64,65, where abbreviations indicate

specific criteria described in Richards et al.34. Boxes are colored according to evidence

strength. bVariant listed by gene, cDNA, and protein. Variants were curated by expert panels

using the following reference transcripts: HRAS (NM_005343.2), MAP2K2 (NM_030662.3),

RAF1 (NM_002880.3), SHOC2 (NM_007373.3), and MYH7 (NM_000257.3). c Variant class

assessed according to categorical ACMG/AMP combining rules34, with Expert Panel (EP)

variant classifications considering only evidence satisfied in (a). dVariant class with the

addition of either PS3 or BS3 criteria in the categorical interpretation framework34. eVariant

class in Bayesian-adapted framework was determined by posterior probability of

pathogenicity (Post_P). Post_P was calculated by entering evidence totals by strength in Supplemental Table 1 from Tavtigian et al.39, using the default settings: Prior Probability

(Prior_P) = 0.100; Odds Path Very Strong = 350; Exponential progression (X) = 2.000.

fThese column shows the Post_P value if a strong pathogenic criteria (PS3) or strong benign


Of 137 missense variants curated, expert panels classified 20 as VUS across six genes (MYH7, HRAS, MAP2K2, PTPN11, RAF1, and SHOC2) and none of these VUS met strong, functional evidence criteria (PS3/BS3). We modeled how adding either PS3 or BS3 criteria would affect the final variant classification, first using the categorical ACMG/AMP combining rules34 and then the quantitative system39. Eight non-conflicting VUS reached a

likely pathogenic classification with the addition of PS3, and two reached a likely benign classification with the addition of BS3 (Figure 2.4). The addition of strong functional evidence did not affect the classification of seven non-conflicting VUS, as they either met only one supporting pathogenic criteria or none at all. In all, 10 out of 17 non-conflicting VUS (~59%) would be resolved with strong functional evidence using the categorical combining rules. It should be noted that this number does not include 3 missense variants that were VUS due to conflicting evidence.

In the Bayesian framework, two non-conflicting missense VUS (MAP2K2

p.Val262Ile and RAF1 p.Val312Ala) reached a likely benign classification simply based on the evidence applied by expert panels (one supporting benign, BP4, in both cases). Modeling the addition of PS3, eight variants reached a likely pathogenic classification, consistent with the categorical assessment. Adding BS3 in the quantitative framework, 11 out of 17 non-conflicting missense VUS reached a likely benign classification, including the two reclassified before adding functional criteria. In sum, 100% of the variants reached a different interpretation in at least one scenario (with either BS3 or PS3).





Download now (142 Page)
Related subjects :