Assessment of the HNF1B Score as a Tool to Select Patients for HNF1B Genetic Testing

Diagnosing hepatocyte nuclear factor 1β (HNF1B)-related disease is a challenging task due to the phenotypic variability and frequent absence of a family history. An HNF1B score has recently been developed to help select appropriate patients for genetic testing with a negative predictive value (NPV) of 99%. We aimed at testing the clinical utility of this score in a large number of referrals for HNF1B genetic testing to the UK diagnostic testing service for the HNF1B gene.

An HNF1B score was assigned for 686 UK referrals for HNF1B genetic testing using clinical information available at referral. The performance of the score was evaluated by receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis. The relative discriminatory ability of different clinical features for making a genetic diagnosis of HNF1B-related disease were estimated in the UK dataset alone and pooled with French data.

The HNF1B score discriminated between patients with and without a mutation reasonably well with an area under the curve of 0.72. Applying the suggested cut-off score of ≥8 gave a NPV of 85%. In a pooled analysis, antenatal renal abnormalities, renal hyperechogenicity and cysts were discriminatory in children, whereas renal hypoplasia and cysts were discriminatory in adults. Pancreatic abnormalities were discriminatory in both, whereas other extra-renal characteristics had a large effect size only in adults.

The HNF1B score was discriminatory for HNF1B mutations in a large cohort of individuals tested in a single UK centre. The lower NPV (85 vs. 99%) reduces its clinical utility in selecting patients for HNF1B genetic testing, although validation in a prospective cohort is required.