Curating VariantsΒΆ

A CIViC Variant represents any molecular alteration with evidence for clinical relevance in cancer. CIViC Molecular Profiles (MPs) are comprised of one or more CIViC Variants. Simple MPs are comprised of one variant, and complex MPs are comprised of combinations of two or more variants. A new variant is added to the CIViC database during Evidence Item creation. For a simple MP, when the first Evidence Item containing clinically relevant information for a new variant is submitted then that variant is added to the database. Variants can also be added to the database during the creation of complex Molecular Profiles. When a complex MP contains a variant not yet in CIViC, then when the first Evidence Item is curated for this MP, new variants will be added to the database during the curation process.

Once a variant exists in the database, then variant coordinates and other variant-level data can also be curated in the user interface. The CIViC definition of a variant is intentionally broad to encompass not only simple variation (e.g., SNVs and indels), but also regional/categorical variation (e.g., exon mutation), or other types of variation (e.g., expression, fusions).

Features within the Variant knowledge model include: Aliases, HGVS expressions, ClinVar IDs, Variant Type, representative Variant Coordinates and Transcript.

Additional instruction on curating individual components of variants are provided in the Knowledge Model docs for Variants.