Whole-genome sequencing of rare disease patients in a national healthcare system

Most patients with rare diseases do not receive a molecular diagnosis and the aetiologicalvariants and mediating genes for more than half such disorders remain to be discovered. Weimplemented whole-genome sequencing (WGS) in a national healthcare system to streamlinediagnosis and to discover unknown aetiological variants, in the coding and non-coding regionsof the genome. In a pilot study for the 100,000 Genomes Project, we generated WGS data for13,037 participants, of whom 9,802 had a rare disease, and provided a genetic diagnosis to1,138 of the 7,065 patients with detailed phenotypic data. We identified 95 Mendelianassociations between genes and rare diseases, of which 11 have been discovered since 2015and at least 79 are confirmed aetiological. Using WGS of UK Biobank1, we showed that rarealleles can explain the presence of some individuals in the tails of a quantitative red blood cell(RBC) trait. Finally, we reported 4 novel non-coding variants which cause disease through thedisruption of transcription of ARPC1B, GATA1, LRBA and MPL. Our study demonstrates asynergy by using WGS for diagnosis and aetiological discovery in routine healthcare.

Type: Other
Archiver: European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA)

1 Dataset 1 Publication

Click on a Dataset ID in the table below to learn more, and to find out who to contact about access to these data

Dataset ID	Description	Technology	Samples
EGAD00001006065	Most patients with rare diseases do not receive a molecular diagnosis and the aetiological variants and mediating genes for more than half such disorders remain to be discovered. We implemented whole-genome sequencing (WGS) in a national healthcare system to streamline diagnosis and to discover unknown aetiological variants, in the coding and non-coding regions of the genome. In a pilot study for the 100,000 Genomes Project, we generated WGS data for 13,037 participants, of whom 9,802 had a rare disease, and provided a genetic diagnosis to 1,138 of the 7,065 patients with detailed phenotypic data. We identified 95 Mendelian associations between genes and rare diseases, of which 11 have been discovered since 2015 and at least 79 are confirmed aetiological. Using WGS of UK Biobank1, we showed that rare alleles can explain the presence of some individuals in the tails of a quantitative red blood cell (RBC) trait. Finally, we reported 4 novel non-coding variants which cause disease through the disruption of transcription of ARPC1B, GATA1, LRBA and MPL. Our study demonstrates a synergy by using WGS for diagnosis and aetiological discovery in routine healthcare.	Illumina HiSeq 4000	1

Publications	Citations
Whole-genome sequencing of patients with rare diseases in a national health system. Turro E, Astle WJ, Megy K, Gräf S, Greene D, Shamardina O, Allen HL, Sanchis-Juan A, Frontini M, Thys C, Stephens J, Mapeta R, Burren OS, Downes K, Haimel M, Tuna S, Deevi SVV, Aitman TJ, Bennett DL, Calleja P, Carss K, Caulfield MJ, Chinnery PF, Dixon PH, Gale DP, James R, Koziell A, Laffan MA, Levine AP, Maher ER, Markus HS, Morales J, Morrell NW, Mumford AD, Ormondroyd E, Rankin S, Rendon A, Richardson S, Roberts I, Roy NBA, Saleem MA, Smith KGC, Stark H, Tan RYY, Themistocleous AC, Thrasher AJ, Watkins H, Webster AR, Wilkins MR, Williamson C, Whitworth J, Humphray S, Bentley DR, NIHR BioResource for the 100,000 Genomes Project, Kingston N, Walker N, Bradley JR, Ashford S, Penkett CJ, Freson K, Stirrups KE, Raymond FL, Ouwehand WH. Nature 583: 2020 96-102	242

Publications

Citations

Whole-genome sequencing of patients with rare diseases in a national health system.
Turro E, Astle WJ, Megy K, Gräf S, Greene D, Shamardina O, Allen HL, Sanchis-Juan A, Frontini M, Thys C, Stephens J, Mapeta R, Burren OS, Downes K, Haimel M, Tuna S, Deevi SVV, Aitman TJ, Bennett DL, Calleja P, Carss K, Caulfield MJ, Chinnery PF, Dixon PH, Gale DP, James R, Koziell A, Laffan MA, Levine AP, Maher ER, Markus HS, Morales J, Morrell NW, Mumford AD, Ormondroyd E, Rankin S, Rendon A, Richardson S, Roberts I, Roy NBA, Saleem MA, Smith KGC, Stark H, Tan RYY, Themistocleous AC, Thrasher AJ, Watkins H, Webster AR, Wilkins MR, Williamson C, Whitworth J, Humphray S, Bentley DR, NIHR BioResource for the 100,000 Genomes Project, Kingston N, Walker N, Bradley JR, Ashford S, Penkett CJ, Freson K, Stirrups KE, Raymond FL, Ouwehand WH. Nature 583: 2020 96-102

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