Marina T. DiStefano, Scott Goehringer, Lawrence Babb, Fowzan S. Alkuraya, Joanna Amberger, Mutaz Amin, Christina Austin-Tse, Marie Balzotti, Jonathan S. Berg, Ewan Birney, Carol Bocchini, Elspeth A. Bruford, Alison J. Coffey, Heather Collins, Fiona Cunningham, Louise C. Daugherty, Yaron Einhorn, Helen V. Firth, David R. Fitzpatrick, Rebecca E. Foulger, Jennifer Goldstein, Ada Hamosh, Matthew R. Hurles, Sarah E. Leigh, Ivone US. Leong, Sateesh Maddirevula, Christa L. Martin, Ellen M. McDonagh, Annie Olry, Arina Puzriakova, Kelly Radtke, Erin M. Ramos, Ana Rath, Erin Rooney Riggs, Angharad M. Roberts, Charlotte Rodwell, Catherine Snow, Zornitza Stark, Jackie Tahiliani, Susan Tweedie, James S. Ware, Phillip Weller, Eleanor Williams, Caroline F. Wright, T Michael. Yates, Heidi L. Rehm, Wellcome Trust, and British Heart Foundation
PURPOSESeveral groups and resources provide information that pertains to the validity of gene-disease relationships used in genomic medicine and research; however, universal standards and terminologies to define the evidence base for the role of a gene in disease, and a single harmonized resource were lacking. To tackle this issue, the Gene Curation Coalition (GenCC) was formed.METHODSThe GenCC drafted harmonized definitions for differing levels of gene-disease validity based on existing resources, and performed a modified Delphi survey with three rounds to narrow the list of terms. The GenCC also developed a unified database to display curated gene-disease validity assertions from its members.RESULTSBased on 241 survey responses from the genetics community, a consensus term set was chosen for grading gene-disease validity and database submissions. As of December 2021, the database contains 15,241 gene-disease assertions on 4,569 unique genes from 12 submitters. When comparing submissions to the database from distinct sources, conflicts in assertions of gene-disease validity ranged from 5.3% to 13.4%.CONCLUSIONTerminology standardization, sharing of gene-disease validity classifications, and resolution of curation conflicts will facilitate collaborations across international curation efforts and in turn, improve consistency in genetic testing and variant interpretation.