Criteria Specification (CSpec) Registry is intended to provide access to the Criteria Specifications used and applied by ClinGen Variant Curation Expert Panels and biocurators in the classification of variants.
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Criteria & Strength Specifications
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PVS1 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Null variant (nonsense, frameshift, canonical +/−1 or 2 splice sites, initiation codon, single or multi-exon deletion) in a gene where loss of function (LOF) is a known mechanism of disease.
Caveats: • Beware of genes where LOF is not a known disease mechanism (e.g. GFAP, MYH7). • Use caution interpreting LOF variants at the extreme 3’ end of a gene. • Use caution with splice variants that are predicted to lead to exon skipping but leave the remainder of the protein intact. • Use caution in the presence of multiple transcripts. Stand Alone
Very Strong
Use PALB2 PVS1 Decision Tree
Modification Type:
Gene-specific,Strength
Strong
Use PALB2 PVS1 Decision Tree.
Modification Type:
Gene-specific,Strength
Moderate
Use PALB2 PVS1 Decision Tree.
Modification Type:
Gene-specific,Strength
Supporting
Use PALB2 PVS1 Decision Tree
Modification Type:
Gene-specific,Strength
Instructions:
Not Applicable
Comments:
Used with PM5_Supporting for non-splice, non-start-loss LoF variants with PTCs upsteram of p.R3047. Per points system, PVS1 + 1 Supporting = LP.
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PS1 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Same amino acid change as a previously established pathogenic variant regardless of nucleotide change.
Example: Val->Leu caused by either G>C or G>T in the same codon. Caveat: Beware of changes that impact splicing rather than at the amino acid/protein level. Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Use PALB2 PS1 Splicing table
Modification Type:
General recommendation
Moderate
Use PALB2 PS1 Splicing table
Modification Type:
General recommendation
Supporting
Use PALB2 PS1 Splicing table
Modification Type:
General recommendation
Instructions:
Not Applicable
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PS2 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
De novo (both maternity and paternity confirmed) in a patient with the disease and no family history.
Note: Confirmation of paternity only is insufficient. Egg donation, surrogate motherhood, errors in embryo transfer, etc. can contribute to non-maternity. Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Not Applicable
Comments:
● Do not use for AD or AR disease: Informative de novo occurrences have not yet been observed and de novo AR conditions are unlikely to be informed by phase
● Autosomal Dominant Disease: Do not use-Informative de novo occurrences have not yet been observed for autosomal dominant disease. As breast cancer is relatively common and occurs frequently as an apparently sporadic event, de novo is unlikely to ever be informative unless specific features of PALB2-related cancer predisposition are identified.
● Autosomal Recessive Disease: Do not use - de novo occurrences are too rare to be informative at this time. In addition, in a biallelic state, de novo occurrences have an exceedingly low probability of being able to be confirmed as in trans because parental testing (and identification of one variant in each parent) is typically required without the use of long-range technologies.
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PS3 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Well-established in vitro or in vivo functional studies supportive of a damaging effect on the gene or gene product.
Note: Functional studies that have been validated and shown to be reproducible and robust in a clinical diagnostic laboratory setting are considered the most well-established. Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Instructions:
For protein, see detailed notes on ATM-specific assays; For RNA use code PVS1_O and modulate strength based on assay quality and quantity (curator discretion). Not Applicable
Comments:
● Protein: Do not use: Lack of known positive controls
● RNA: Do not use: See code PVS1_Variable(RNA)
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PS4 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
The prevalence of the variant in affected individuals is significantly increased compared to the prevalence in controls.
Note 1: Relative risk (RR) or odds ratio (OR), as obtained from case-control studies, is >5.0 and the confidence interval around the estimate of RR or OR does not include 1.0. See manuscript for detailed guidance. Note 2: In instances of very rare variants where case-control studies may not reach statistical significance, the prior observation of the variant in multiple unrelated patients with the same phenotype, and its absence in controls, may be used as moderate level of evidence. Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Case-control studies; p-value ≤.05 AND (Odds ratio, hazard ratio, or relative risk ≥3 OR lower 95% CI ≥1.5).
Modification Type:
Disease-specific
Moderate
Supporting
Instructions:
PS4_Moderate: Do not use. Proband counting for genes causing a common disorder need to be calibrated in a population-specific way before use. Not Applicable
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PM1 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Located in a mutational hot spot and/or critical and well-established functional domain (e.g. active site of an enzyme) without benign variation.
Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Not Applicable
Comments:
Do not use: Missense pathogenic variation in PALB2 is not yet confirmed as a mechanism of disease.
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PM2 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Absent from controls (or at extremely low frequency if recessive) in Exome Sequencing Project, 1000 Genomes or Exome Aggregation Consortium.
Caveat: Population data for indels may be poorly called by next generation sequencing. Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Variant absent in gnomAD or present in ≤ 1/300,000 alleles
Modification Type:
Gene-specific,Strength
Instructions:
Not Applicable
Comments:
PM2_Supporting is not considered a conflicting piece of evidence to an otherwise benign body of evidence; Coverage must be >30X at the locus.
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PM3 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
For recessive disorders, detected in trans with a pathogenic variant
Note: This requires testing of parents (or offspring) to determine phase. Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Use Fanconi Anemia PM3 tables
Modification Type:
Disease-specific,Strength
Moderate
Use Fanconi Anemia PM3 tables
Modification Type:
Disease-specific,Strength
Supporting
Use Fanconi Anemia PM3 tables
Modification Type:
Disease-specific,Strength
Instructions:
Fanconi Anemia (FA) of any subtype is generally considered an exceedingly rare, severe, early-onset disease with variable features. In the case of BRCA2, hypomorphic FA patients have been described who are diagnosed at older ages with less severe phenotypes. The criteria set forth in the tables below are designed to accommodate such hypomorphs and are recommended to be applied to all FA-associated genes which may not be as well described due to the extreme infrequency of their identification, and due to ascertainment bias (for severe phenotype) in the literature. Variant may not exceed general population frequency >0.01%. Consider other gene panel test results as potential explanation for phenotype. Multiple unrelated cases are additive.
Phenotype consistent: Chromosomal breakage with 1 clinical feature OR at least 2 of 3 clinical features from separate categories without chromosomal breakage studies
Specifications are adapted from definitions from GeneReviews (last revision June 3, 2021) Not Applicable
Comments:
Multiple such cases are additive, Phenotype considerations are detailed in the rules, frequency of >.01% should not use PM3; Observations in cis are not applicable. Source information is considered (laboratory vs database setting).
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PM4 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Protein length changes due to in-frame deletions/insertions in a non-repeat region or stop-loss variants.
Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Instructions:
Do not use for in-frame insertions or deletions less than a single exon; Use for stop-loss variants, only. Not Applicable
Comments:
● Do not use for in-frame deletions/insertions that are not already PVS1-eligible as no information is available to justify the application of this rule.
● In addition, missense and small in-frame indels are not yet confirmed as a mechanism of disease for PALB2.
● Do not use for stop-loss due to lack of data on stop-loss variants.
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PM5 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Novel missense change at an amino acid residue where a different missense change determined to be pathogenic has been seen before.
Example: Arg156His is pathogenic; now you observe Arg156Cys. Caveat: Beware of changes that impact splicing rather than at the amino acid/protein level. Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Apply to frameshifting or truncating variants with premature termination codons upstream of p.Tyr1183, based on location of the most C-terminal known pathogenic variant, p.Tyr1183*
Modification Type:
Gene-specific,Strength
Instructions:
Not Applicable
Comments:
No rescue splicing isoforms have been identified in ATM.
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PM6 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Assumed de novo, but without confirmation of paternity and maternity.
Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Not Applicable
Comments:
Do not use for AD or AR disease: Informative de novo occurrences have not yet been observed and de novo AR conditions are unlikely to be informed by phase
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PP1 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Co-segregation with disease in multiple affected family members in a gene definitively known to cause the disease.
Note: May be used as stronger evidence with increasing segregation data. Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
LOD ≥1.26 or Bayes Factor (LR) ≥18:1
Modification Type:
Gene-specific
Moderate
LOD ≥.60 or Bayes Factor (LR) ≥4:1
Modification Type:
Gene-specific
Supporting
LOD ≥0.3 or Bayes Factor (LR) ≥2:1
Modification Type:
Gene-specific
Instructions:
Not Applicable
Comments:
Informative pedigrees for segregation in families with AR Ataxia-Telangiectasia are not available. However, this VCEP would consider rules similar to the Glanzman and Hearing Loss VCEP rules if a pedigree becomes available.
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PP2 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Missense variant in a gene that has a low rate of benign missense variation and where missense variants are a common mechanism of disease.
Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Not Applicable
Comments:
Do not use. Missense is not yet confirmed or refuted as a mechanism of disease for PALB2
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PP3 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Multiple lines of computational evidence support a deleterious effect on the gene or gene product (conservation, evolutionary, splicing impact, etc.).
Caveat: As many in silico algorithms use the same or very similar input for their predictions, each algorithm should not be counted as an independent criterion. PP3 can be used only once in any evaluation of a variant. Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Modification Type:
General recommendation
Instructions:
Not Applicable
Comments:
Check splicing scores for all variant types. Do not combine splice prediction weight with other lines of protein evidence.
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PP4 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Patient’s phenotype or family history is highly specific for a disease with a single genetic etiology.
Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Not Applicable
Comments:
Do not use for AD disorder as breast cancer is a disease with multiple genetic etiology (genetic heterogeneity) and there are no features that can readily distinguish hereditary from sporadic causes.
For AR disorder, use PM3 for specific phenotype considerations
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PP5 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Reputable source recently reports variant as pathogenic, but the evidence is not available to the laboratory to perform an independent evaluation.
Not Applicable
This criterion is not for use as recommended by the ClinGen Sequence Variant Interpretation VCEP Review Committee.
PubMed : 29543229
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BA1 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Allele frequency is above 5% in Exome Sequencing Project, 1000 Genomes or Exome Aggregation Consortium.
Stand Alone
GnomAD Filtering Allele Frequency Allele frequency >0.1%
Modification Type:
Disease-specific,Gene-specific
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Instructions:
Rounded from .118% established using Whiffin calculator10:
Not Applicable
Comments:
FAF is a statistical model that accounts for population size and founder populations.
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BS1 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Allele frequency is greater than expected for disorder.
Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
GnomAD Filtering Allele Frequency greater than expected for disease >.01%
Modification Type:
Disease-specific,Gene-specific
Moderate
Supporting
Instructions:
Not Applicable
Comments:
FAF is a statistical model that accounts for population size and founder populations.
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BS2 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Observed in a healthy adult individual for a recessive (homozygous), dominant (heterozygous), or X-linked (hemizygous) disorder, with full penetrance expected at an early age.
Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Per Fanconi Anemia BS2 tables
Modification Type:
Disease-specific
Moderate
Per Fanconi Anemia BS2 tables
Modification Type:
Disease-specific
Supporting
Per Fanconi Anemia BS2 tables
Modification Type:
Disease-specific
Instructions:
Not Applicable
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BS3 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Well-established in vitro or in vivo functional studies show no damaging effect on protein function or splicing.
Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Instructions:
For protein, see detailed notes on ATM-specific assays; For RNA use code BP7_O and modulate strength based on assay quality and quantity (curator discretion). Not Applicable
Comments:
● Do not use: Protein functional studies (BS3) See PS3 for details
● RNA functional studies (Use BP7_Variable(RNA))
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BS4 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Lack of segregation in affected members of a family.
Caveat: The presence of phenocopies for common phenotypes (i.e. cancer, epilepsy) can mimic lack of segregation among affected individuals. Also, families may have more than one pathogenic variant contributing to an autosomal dominant disorder, further confounding an apparent lack of segregation. Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
LOD ≤ -1.28 or Bayes Factor (LR) LR≤.053:1
Modification Type:
Gene-specific
Moderate
LOD ≤ -.64 or Bayes Factor (LR) ≤.23
Modification Type:
Gene-specific
Supporting
LOD ≤-.32 or Bayes Factor (LR) ≤.48
Modification Type:
Gene-specific
Instructions:
Not Applicable
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BP1 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Missense variant in a gene for which primarily truncating variants are known to cause disease.
Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Apply to all missense variants.
Modification Type:
Gene-specific
Instructions:
Based on published and unpublished functional studies, PALB2 has a low rate of missense variants that are non-functional in relevant assays. True missense pathogenic variants are not yet confirmed or refuted but are thought to be exceedingly rare. Given the very low likelihood that missense variants are pathogenic, this rule applies to all missense variants in PALB2. Not Applicable
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BP2 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Observed in trans with a pathogenic variant for a fully penetrant dominant gene/disorder or observed in cis with a pathogenic variant in any inheritance pattern.
Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Instructions:
Use ATM PM3/BP2 table. Not Applicable
Comments:
Do not use: See Fanconi Anemia BS2 table
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BP3 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
In frame-deletions/insertions in a repetitive region without a known function.
Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Not Applicable
Comments:
Do not use: small in-frame losses are neither confirmed nor refuted as a mechanism of pathogenicity for PALB2. In addition, PALB2 is not considered to have repetitive regions without known function
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BP4 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Multiple lines of computational evidence suggest no impact on gene or gene product (conservation, evolutionary, splicing impact, etc)
Caveat: As many in silico algorithms use the same or very similar input for their predictions, each algorithm cannot be counted as an independent criterion. BP4 can be used only once in any evaluation of a variant. Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Instructions:
Protein: REVEL <.249; RNA: multiple in silico predictors agree to a lack of splice defect. Not Applicable
Comments:
● Protein: Do not use. So far, published predictors have yet to achieve functional outcome for PALB2 missense variants
● RNA: At least one well-established in silico predictor (e.g. SpliceAI) shows impact on splicing
o NOTE: Splice analysis needs to be considered for all variant types (including missense, frameshift, nonsense, etc. as any variant has the potential to impact splicing which may preclude any expected protein effects)
o NOTE: BP4 for splice predictions may not be applied in conjunction with BP7_Variable(RNA) (a lack of observed RNA defect)
o Use caution in applying the wrong type of computational evidence (protein vs. RNA) towards the cumulative body of evidence for the opposite mechanism.
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BP5 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Variant found in a case with an alternate molecular basis for disease.
Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
Moderate
Supporting
Not Applicable
Comments:
Do not use: Cases with multiple pathogenic variants have been observed with no noticeable difference in phenotype (e.g. BRCA1 and BRCA2). In addition, PALB2 has moderate penetrance and will naturally occur with other pathogenic variants more frequently due to higher tolerance/presence in the general population.
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BP6 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
Reputable source recently reports variant as benign, but the evidence is not available to the laboratory to perform an independent evaluation.
Not Applicable
This criterion is not for use as recommended by the ClinGen Sequence Variant Interpretation VCEP Review Committee.
PubMed : 29543229
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BP7 | ||||
Original ACMG Summary
A synonymous variant for which splicing prediction algorithms predict no impact to the splice consensus sequence nor the creation of a new splice site AND the nucleotide is not highly conserved.
Stand Alone
Very Strong
Strong
BP7_Strong(RNA): Observed lack of aberrant RNA defect for silent substitutions and intronic variants. May reduce weight applied depending on assay quality.
Modification Type:
General recommendation
Moderate
Modification Type:
General recommendation
Supporting
Modification Type:
General recommendation
Instructions:
Not Applicable
Comments:
BP4 may be used in addition to BP7 for sysnonymous and deep intronic variants to achieve LB; BP7 is not a conflicting piece of evidence against an otherwise pathogenic body of evidence; BP7_O should NOT be used in conjunction with BP4.
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