Nature Reviews Genetics
Volume 20 Issue 5, May 2019
https://www.nature.com/nrg/volumes/20/issues/4 

 
Comment | 14 March 2019
Balancing uncertainty with patient autonomy in precision medicine
Variants of unknown significance (VUS) are genetic variants whose association with disease risk is unknown. The authors posit that VUS should not inform clinical decision-making as the benefits of returning this genetic information to patients undergoing genetic testing are outweighed by the potential for harm.
By the nature of their unknown pathogenicity, variants of unknown significance (VUS) should not inform clinical decisions for genetic carrier testing; nevertheless, VUS are increasingly returned to patients. We argue that the benefits of returning VUS to patients are outweighed by the potential for individual and health-care system-level harm.
Samantha Pollard, Sophie Sun & Dean A. Regier