GENE REFERENCE / HGNC:3438

ERCC6

ERCC excision repair 6, chromatin remodeling factor

protein-coding gene10q11.23Gene information

What does this gene do?

The ERCC6 gene provides instructions for making a protein called Cockayne syndrome B (CSB). This protein is involved in repairing damaged DNA and appears to assist with gene transcription, which is the first step in protein production.

DNA can be damaged by ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun and by toxic chemicals, radiation, and unstable molecules called free radicals. If left uncorrected, DNA damage accumulates, which causes cells to malfunction and can lead to cell death. Although DNA damage occurs frequently, cells are usually able to fix it before it can cause problems. Cells have several mechanisms to correct DNA damage; one such mechanism involves the CSB protein. This protein specializes in repairing damaged DNA within active genes (those genes undergoing gene transcription). When DNA in active genes is damaged, the enzyme that carries out gene transcription (RNA polymerase) gets stuck, and the process stalls. Researchers think that the CSB protein helps remove RNA polymerase from the damaged site, so the DNA can be repaired. The CSB protein may also assist in restarting gene transcription after the damage is corrected.

Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine. Source publication: 2023-04-10. Source review: 2016-05.

ClinGen reviews

ClinGen reviews the evidence linking a particular gene to a condition. Each rating below describes the strength of that link. It does not classify a variant in your DNA file.

Condition	Inheritance	Evidence
Cockayne spectrum with or without cerebrooculofacioskeletal syndromeMONDO:0100506 · Evaluated 2022-08-18	Autosomal recessive	DefinitiveSyndromic Disorders Gene Curation Expert Panel

ClinVar records

These numbers show what has been submitted to ClinVar. They cannot tell you how likely you are to have a condition.

Submitted alleles: 2,205
Submissions for variants in or overlapping this gene: 3,621
Submissions explicitly reporting this gene: 3,417
Alleles reported pathogenic / likely pathogenic: 416
VariationIDs with uncertain significance: 660
VariationIDs with conflicting classifications: 125

The rows count different things: alleles, submissions or VariationIDs. Their categories can overlap, so do not add them together. Pathogenic/likely pathogenic counts exclude structural variants that merely overlap a gene. A dash in the source means “not reported,” not zero.

NCBI produces the gene-summary file each week using counts recorded at the start of the month. The numbers may differ from those on the live ClinVar website. Read the field definitions ↗

View this gene in ClinVar ↗

YOUR DNA FILE

Can your DNA file tell you about ERCC6?

From a DNA test kit (such as 23andMe, AncestryDNA or MyHeritage). These kits check a fixed list of about 600,000 to 700,000 positions across your whole genome. ClinVar lists 416 alleles in ERCC6 reported as pathogenic or likely pathogenic. A kit checks only some of these positions, and often none of them.

From whole genome sequencing (a VCF file). Sequencing reads most of your genome. Your file lists the places where your DNA differs from the reference genome. Some regions are hard to sequence, including parts of some genes that have near-identical copies elsewhere, and a VCF file does not record which positions were read well.

If a variant is not in your file, that does not mean you don’t have it.

What BioDecode checks

BioDecode compares every variant in your file with ClinVar, on your own computer. For each match, it shows the ClinVar classification, the review status and the condition it was reported for. Your file is not uploaded.

A ClinVar classification applies to one particular variant and the condition it was reported for. It does not tell you about other variants in ERCC6.

BioDecode cannot fill gaps in your test, diagnose a condition or replace clinical testing.

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