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Machine Learning Models for Accurate Prioritization of Variants of Uncertain Significance
  • +1
  • Daniel Mahecha,
  • Haydemar Nuñez,
  • Maria Lattig,
  • Jorge Duitama
Daniel Mahecha
SIGEN, Alianza Universidad de los Andes - Fundación Santa Fe de Bogota

Corresponding Author:dh.mahecha25@uniandes.edu.co

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Haydemar Nuñez
Universidad de los Andes
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Maria Lattig
SIGEN, Alianza Universidad de los Andes - Fundación Santa Fe de Bogota
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Jorge Duitama
Universidad de los Andes
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Abstract

The growing use of new generation sequencing technologies on genetic diagnosis has produced an exponential increase in the number of Variants of Uncertain Significance (VUS). In this manuscript we compare three machine learning methods to classify VUS as Pathogenic or No pathogenic, implementing a Random Forest (RF), a Support Vector Machine (SVM), and a Multilayer Perceptron (MLP). To train the models, we extracted 82,463 high quality variants from ClinVar, using 9 conservation scores, the loss of function tool and allele frequencies. For the RF and SVM models, hyperparameters were tuned using cross validation with a grid search. The three models were tested on a set of 5,537 variants that had been classified as VUS any time along the last three years but had been reclassified in august 2020. The three models yielded superior accuracy on this set compared to the benchmarked tools. The RF based model yielded the best performance across different variant types and was used to create VusPrize, an open source software tool for prioritization of variants of uncertain significance. We believe that our model can improve the process of genetic diagnosis on research and clinical settings.
24 Nov 2020Submitted to Human Mutation
25 Nov 2020Submission Checks Completed
25 Nov 2020Assigned to Editor
15 Feb 2021Reviewer(s) Assigned
06 Mar 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
24 Mar 2021Editorial Decision: Revise Major
21 Jun 20211st Revision Received
22 Jun 2021Submission Checks Completed
22 Jun 2021Assigned to Editor
29 Jun 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
12 Jul 2021Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
31 Aug 20212nd Revision Received
01 Sep 2021Submission Checks Completed
01 Sep 2021Assigned to Editor
01 Sep 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
01 Oct 2021Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
04 Jan 20223rd Revision Received
05 Jan 2022Submission Checks Completed
05 Jan 2022Assigned to Editor
05 Jan 2022Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
23 Jan 2022Editorial Decision: Accept
Apr 2022Published in Human Mutation volume 43 issue 4 on pages 449-460. 10.1002/humu.24339