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AlphaMissense score

AlphaMissense estimates the possible effect of a missense variant, a change that replaces one amino acid in a protein. It uses protein sequence context, predicted structural context, and population-frequency information. Its categories are computational predictions. They are not ACMG/AMP clinical classifications and do not diagnose a condition.

Score range in Gene Inspector Pro

AlphaMissense scores run from 0 to 1. The model's published high-precision categories are shown below.

Score Prediction category
Below 0.34 Likely benign prediction
0.34 to 0.564 Ambiguous prediction
Above 0.564 Likely pathogenic prediction

The model developers selected the outer cutoffs to reach 90% precision on their ClinVar benchmark. The middle range is deliberately left ambiguous. These are model categories, not a final clinical interpretation for a person or a variant.

When it applies

AlphaMissense is for single amino-acid substitutions. It does not assess non-coding variants, splice changes, truncating variants, copy-number changes, or the full clinical meaning of a variant. Predictions can also differ in usefulness between genes and disease mechanisms.

How to use it

Use the score as one line of evidence for a missense variant. Check it with population frequency, ClinVar submissions, the gene and disease mechanism, inheritance, genotype quality, functional studies, and laboratory review. A high score does not establish pathogenicity, and a low score does not prove a variant is harmless.

Sources