Publications by authors named "Claire Hardcastle"

The PAX6 gene encodes a highly-conserved transcription factor involved in eye development. Heterozygous loss-of-function variants in PAX6 can cause a range of ophthalmic disorders including aniridia. A key molecular diagnostic challenge is that many PAX6 missense changes are presently classified as variants of uncertain significance.

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Non-traumatic ectopia lentis can be isolated or herald an underlying multisystemic disorder. Technological advances have revolutionized genetic testing for many ophthalmic disorders, and this study aims to provide insights into the clinical utility of genetic analysis in paediatric ectopia lentis. Children that underwent lens extraction for ectopia lentis between 2013 and 2017 were identified, and gene panel testing findings and surgical outcomes were collected.

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Background: Genomic variant prioritisation is one of the most significant bottlenecks to mainstream genomic testing in healthcare. Tools to improve precision while ensuring high recall are critical to successful mainstream clinical genomic testing, in particular for whole genome sequencing where millions of variants must be considered for each patient.

Methods: We developed EyeG2P, a publicly available database and web application using the Ensembl Variant Effect Predictor.

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Small in-frame insertion-deletion (indel) variants are a common form of genomic variation whose impact on rare disease phenotypes has been understudied. The prediction of the pathogenicity of such variants remains challenging. X-linked incomplete congenital stationary night blindness type 2 (CSNB2) is a nonprogressive, inherited retinal disorder caused by variants in CACNA1F, encoding the Ca1.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study evaluates eight algorithms and a consensus approach to assess the impact of pre-messenger RNA splicing variants on human disease diagnosis, focusing on 249 variants of uncertain significance (VUSs).
  • - It finds that SpliceAI is the most effective single algorithm, but combining multiple tools can improve accuracy in determining if VUSs are pathogenic or benign.
  • - The research indicates that 15% of individuals (2783 total) referred for rare disorders have splicing-impacting variants not previously classified as pathogenic, suggesting potential for new diagnoses in one out of every five cases.
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Purpose: A key property to consider in all genetic tests is clinical utility, the ability of the test to influence patient management and health outcomes. Here we assess the current clinical utility of genetic testing in diverse pediatric inherited eye disorders (IEDs).

Methods: Two hundred one unrelated children (0-5 years old) with IEDs were ascertained through the database of the North West Genomic Laboratory Hub, Manchester, UK.

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Thirty percent of all inherited retinal disease (IRD) is accounted for by conditions with extra-ocular features. This study aimed to establish the genetic diagnostic pick-up rate for IRD patients with one or more extra-ocular features undergoing panel-based screening in a clinical setting. One hundred and six participants, tested on a gene panel which contained both isolated and syndromic IRD genes, were retrospectively ascertained from the Manchester Genomic Diagnostics Laboratory database spanning 6 years (2012-2017).

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Purpose: To assess the clinical usefulness of genetic testing in a pediatric population with inherited retinal disease (IRD).

Design: Single-center retrospective case series.

Participants: Eighty-five unrelated children with a diagnosis of isolated or syndromic IRD who were referred for clinical genetic testing between January 2014 and July 2016.

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