CASRdb: A Publicly Accessible Comprehensive Database for Disease-Associated Calcium-Sensing Receptor Variants.

Abstract

Context: Genetic testing of the calcium-sensing receptor (CASR) gene is crucial for confirming diagnoses of familial hypocalciuric hypercalcemia type I (FHH1) and autosomal dominant hypocalcemia type I (ADH1). Therefore, we created a publicly accessible comprehensive database of the disease-causing variants of the CASR gene.

Evidence acquisition: We used 2 sources for variant reports: (1) we conducted a systematic review in the Embase and PubMed databases from inception to March 2023, using search strategies associated with CASR. We identified all articles reporting CASR variants associated with disorders of calcium metabolism. (2) Additionally, data associated with pathogenic (P) or likely pathogenic (LP) variants in the ClinVar and LOVD databases were retrieved. Benign or likely benign variants were excluded. Variants of uncertain significance (VUS) were included only if they were reported in the literature. We generated a library of CASR variants associated with phenotypes, which has been made available on a website.

Evidence synthesis: We identified a total of 498 variants, of which 121 (24.3%) were associated with ADH1 and 377 (75.7%) with FHH1. Most included variants were identified from the literature (117 activating and 352 inactivating variants), and the majority of these were not documented in ClinVar/LOVD (73/117, 62.4% activating variants; 207/352, 58.8% inactivating variants).

Conclusion: We developed CASRdb, a database that compiles information on all CASR variants associated with disorders of calcium metabolism from existing literature and genomic databases. Our database stands out due to the substantially higher number of disease-associated variants it contains, highlighting its comprehensive nature. The website is available at http://casrdb.mgh.harvard.edu.