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Mount Sinai Team Publishes AI ‘Penetrance’ Scores to Gauge Disease Risk From Rare Variants

The Science study uses routine lab results to generate an interpretable 0–1 risk score that clarifies uncertain genetic findings.

Overview

  • Researchers trained disease‑specific models on more than 1 million electronic health records to move beyond binary diagnoses toward spectrum‑based risk.
  • The approach produced ML penetrance scores for 1,648 rare variants across 31 genes linked to 10 autosomal‑dominant conditions.
  • Real‑world signals suggested some variants labeled uncertain are likely disease‑causing, while others presumed pathogenic showed limited impact.
  • The score is intended to guide decisions such as earlier screening or de‑escalation of care in cases like Lynch syndrome, not to replace clinician judgment.
  • The team plans to expand to more diseases, variant types, and diverse populations and to validate predictions longitudinally, with support from multiple NIH grants.