GENE REFERENCE / HGNC:6998

MEFV

MEFV innate immunity regulator, pyrin

protein-coding gene16p13.3Gene information

What does this gene do?

The MEFV gene provides instructions for making a protein called pyrin (also known as marenostrin). Although pyrin's function is not fully understood, it likely assists in keeping the inflammation process under control. Inflammation occurs when the immune system sends signaling molecules and white blood cells to a site of injury or disease to fight microbial invaders and facilitate tissue repair. When this has been accomplished, the body stops the inflammatory response to prevent damage to its own cells and tissues.

Pyrin is produced in certain white blood cells (neutrophils, eosinophils, and monocytes) that play a role in inflammation and in fighting infection. Pyrin may direct the migration of white blood cells to sites of inflammation and stop or slow the inflammatory response when it is no longer needed. Pyrin also interacts with other molecules to assemble themselves into structures called inflammasomes, which are involved in the process of inflammation. Research indicates that pyrin helps regulate inflammation by interacting with the cytoskeleton, the structural framework that helps to define the shape, size, and movement of a cell.

Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine. Source publication: 2025-04-03. Source review: 2008-09.

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
familial Mediterranean feverMONDO:0018088 · Evaluated 2022-02-23	Semidominant	DefinitiveGeneral 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: 1,473
Submissions for variants in or overlapping this gene: 4,365
Submissions explicitly reporting this gene: 4,271
Alleles reported pathogenic / likely pathogenic: 31
VariationIDs with uncertain significance: 556
VariationIDs with conflicting classifications: 272

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 MEFV?

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 31 alleles in MEFV 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 MEFV.

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

Buy BioDecode See a sample report →Check file compatibility →