Mutation Databases for Inherited Renal Disease: Are They Complete, Accurate, Clinically Relevant, and Freely Available?

Abstract

This study examined whether gene-specific DNA variant databases for inherited diseases of the kidney fulfilled the Human Variome Project recommendations of being complete, accurate, clinically relevant and freely available. A recent review identified 60 inherited renal diseases caused by mutations in 132 genes. The disease name, MIM number, gene name, together with "mutation" or "database," were used to identify web-based databases. Fifty-nine diseases (98%) due to mutations in 128 genes had a variant database. Altogether there were 349 databases (a median of 3 per gene, range 0-6), but no gene had two databases with the same number of variants, and 165 (50%) databases included fewer than 10..