Abstract
Introduction: The inability of some seriously and chronically ill individuals to receive a definitive diagnosis represents an unmet medical need. In 2008, the NIH Undiagnosed Diseases Program (UDP) was established to provide answers to patients with mysterious conditions that long eluded diagnosis and to advance medical knowledge.Patients admitted to the NIH UDP undergo a five-day hospitalization, facilitating highly collaborative clinical evaluations and a detailed, standardized documentation of the individual's phenotype. Bedside and bench investigations are tightly coupled. Genetic studies include commercially available testing, single nucleotide polymorphism microarray analysis, and family exomic sequencing studies. Selected gene variants are evaluated by collaborators using informatics, in vitro cell studies, and functional assays in model systems (fly, zebrafish, worm, or mouse). Insights from the UDP: In seven years, the UDP received 2954 complete applications and evaluated 863 individuals. Nine vignettes (two unpublished) illustrate the relevance of an undiagnosed diseases program to complex and common disorders, the coincidence of multiple rare single gene disorders in individual patients, newly recognized mechanisms of disease, and the application of precision medicine to patient care. Conclusions: The UDP provides examples of the benefits expected to accrue with the recent launch of a national Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN). The UDN should accelerate rare disease diagnosis and new disease discovery, enhance the likelihood of diagnosing known diseases in patients with uncommon phenotypes, improve management strategies, and advance medical research.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Molecular Genetics and Metabolism |
| DOIs | |
| State | Accepted/In press - 2016 |
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Keywords
- Exome sequencing
- Interdisciplinary research
- Precision medicine
- Undiagnosed and rare diseases
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Genetics
- Endocrinology
- Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Cite this
The NIH Undiagnosed Diseases Program and Network : Applications to modern medicine. / Gahl, William A.; Mulvihill, John J.; Toro, Camilo; Markello, Thomas C.; Wise, Anastasia L.; Ramoni, Rachel B.; Adams, David R.; Tifft, Cynthia J.
In: Molecular Genetics and Metabolism, 2016.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - The NIH Undiagnosed Diseases Program and Network
T2 - Applications to modern medicine
AU - Gahl, William A.
AU - Mulvihill, John J.
AU - Toro, Camilo
AU - Markello, Thomas C.
AU - Wise, Anastasia L.
AU - Ramoni, Rachel B.
AU - Adams, David R.
AU - Tifft, Cynthia J.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Introduction: The inability of some seriously and chronically ill individuals to receive a definitive diagnosis represents an unmet medical need. In 2008, the NIH Undiagnosed Diseases Program (UDP) was established to provide answers to patients with mysterious conditions that long eluded diagnosis and to advance medical knowledge.Patients admitted to the NIH UDP undergo a five-day hospitalization, facilitating highly collaborative clinical evaluations and a detailed, standardized documentation of the individual's phenotype. Bedside and bench investigations are tightly coupled. Genetic studies include commercially available testing, single nucleotide polymorphism microarray analysis, and family exomic sequencing studies. Selected gene variants are evaluated by collaborators using informatics, in vitro cell studies, and functional assays in model systems (fly, zebrafish, worm, or mouse). Insights from the UDP: In seven years, the UDP received 2954 complete applications and evaluated 863 individuals. Nine vignettes (two unpublished) illustrate the relevance of an undiagnosed diseases program to complex and common disorders, the coincidence of multiple rare single gene disorders in individual patients, newly recognized mechanisms of disease, and the application of precision medicine to patient care. Conclusions: The UDP provides examples of the benefits expected to accrue with the recent launch of a national Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN). The UDN should accelerate rare disease diagnosis and new disease discovery, enhance the likelihood of diagnosing known diseases in patients with uncommon phenotypes, improve management strategies, and advance medical research.
AB - Introduction: The inability of some seriously and chronically ill individuals to receive a definitive diagnosis represents an unmet medical need. In 2008, the NIH Undiagnosed Diseases Program (UDP) was established to provide answers to patients with mysterious conditions that long eluded diagnosis and to advance medical knowledge.Patients admitted to the NIH UDP undergo a five-day hospitalization, facilitating highly collaborative clinical evaluations and a detailed, standardized documentation of the individual's phenotype. Bedside and bench investigations are tightly coupled. Genetic studies include commercially available testing, single nucleotide polymorphism microarray analysis, and family exomic sequencing studies. Selected gene variants are evaluated by collaborators using informatics, in vitro cell studies, and functional assays in model systems (fly, zebrafish, worm, or mouse). Insights from the UDP: In seven years, the UDP received 2954 complete applications and evaluated 863 individuals. Nine vignettes (two unpublished) illustrate the relevance of an undiagnosed diseases program to complex and common disorders, the coincidence of multiple rare single gene disorders in individual patients, newly recognized mechanisms of disease, and the application of precision medicine to patient care. Conclusions: The UDP provides examples of the benefits expected to accrue with the recent launch of a national Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN). The UDN should accelerate rare disease diagnosis and new disease discovery, enhance the likelihood of diagnosing known diseases in patients with uncommon phenotypes, improve management strategies, and advance medical research.
KW - Exome sequencing
KW - Interdisciplinary research
KW - Precision medicine
KW - Undiagnosed and rare diseases
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84956643608&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ymgme.2016.01.007
DO - 10.1016/j.ymgme.2016.01.007
M3 - Article
JO - Molecular Genetics and Metabolism
JF - Molecular Genetics and Metabolism
SN - 1096-7192
ER -