Recommended Guidelines for Validation, Quality Control, and Reporting of TP53 Variants in Clinical Practice

Accurate assessment of gene status in sporadic tumors and in the germline of individuals at high risk of cancer due to Li-Fraumeni Syndrome (LFS) has important clinical implications for diagnosis, surveillance, and therapy. Genomic data from more than 20,000 cancer genomes provide a wealth of information on cancer gene alterations and have confirmed as the most commonly mutated gene in human cancer. Analysis of a database of 70,000 variants reveals that the two newly discovered exons of the gene, exons 9β and 9γ, generated by alternative splicing, are the targets of inactivating mutation events in breast, liver, and head and neck tumors. Furthermore, germline rearrange-ments in intron 1 of are associated with LFS and are frequently observed in sporadic osteosarcoma. In this context of constantly growing genomic data, we discuss how screening strategies must be improved when assessing status in clinical samples. Finally, we discuss how alterations should be described by using accurate nomenclature to avoid confusion in scientific and clinical reports. .