rewirebio.iobenchmarks
Contested result

MutFormer and PolyPhen-2: Livesey and Marsh 2025, Genome Biology 26:104 (Europe PMC full text XML) and An openly licensed benchmark and per-gene calibration map for missense pathogenicity predictors on activating cancer drivers disagree

  • Low severity
  • Not yet reviewed
  • two-study-conflict
  • unknown

Livesey and Marsh 2025, Genome Biology 26:104 (Europe PMC full text XML) ranks MutFormer above PolyPhen-2 in 6 of 6 comparisons; An openly licensed benchmark and per-gene calibration map for missense pathogenicity predictors on activating cancer drivers ranks PolyPhen-2 above MutFormer in 5 of 6 comparisons. No other study gives a verdict, so neither is the outlier.

An automatic lead, not a finding of error. The results below are shown as published, everywhere on the site, until a reviewer decides otherwise.

Which studies agree

2 papers rank MutFormer above PolyPhen-2 in 7 of their 12 comparisons and PolyPhen-2 higher in 5. Of those papers, An openly licensed benchmark… ranks PolyPhen-2 higher on its own (5 of 6).

Papers grouped by which system they rank higher: MutFormer or PolyPhen-2Rank MutFormer higher: Livesey and Marsh 2025. Rank PolyPhen-2 higher: An openly licensed benchmark…. Mixed: none.Rank MutFormer higherMixedRank PolyPhen-2 higherLivesey and Marsh 2025Livesey and Marsh 2025, Genome Biology 26:104 (Europe PMC full text XML)An openly licensedbenchmark…An openly licensed benchmark and per-gene calibration map for missense pathogenicity predictors on activating cancer drivers
  • Rank MutFormer higher (1): Livesey and Marsh 2025
  • Rank PolyPhen-2 higher (1): An openly licensed benchmark…
  • Mixed (0): none

Each paper sits where at least two thirds of its comparisons point; Mixed means neither model reaches two thirds. The larger, outlined dot is the paper that disagrees.

Comparisons in which each paper scores MutFormer or PolyPhen-2 higherLivesey and Marsh 2025: MutFormer higher in 6, PolyPhen-2 higher in 0, 0 ties. An openly licensed benchmark…: MutFormer higher in 1, PolyPhen-2 higher in 5, 0 ties.Livesey and Marsh 2025Livesey and Marsh 2025, Genome Biology 26:104 (Europe PMC full text XML)6 MutFormer higher6An openly licensed benchmark…An openly licensed benchmark and per-gene calibration map for missense pathogenicity predictors on activating cancer drivers1 MutFormer higher15 PolyPhen-2 higher5
MutFormer higherTiePolyPhen-2 higherNumbers are counts of comparisons; the outlined bar is the paper that disagrees.
Papers compared (2)
PaperRoleRanks MutFormer higherRanks PolyPhen-2 higherTies
Livesey and Marsh 2025, Genome Biology 26:104 (Europe PMC full text XML) and 1 more record · DOIAgrees600
An openly licensed benchmark and per-gene calibration map for missense pathogenicity predictors on activating cancer drivers and 1 more record · DOIAgrees150
Comparisons in Livesey and Marsh 2025 (6)
ProtocolDatasetMetricMutFormerPolyPhen-2Higher
Livesey and Marsh 2025 DMS benchmark: pairwise |Spearman| win rate, all 36 DMS setsLivesey and Marsh 2025 human DMS benchmark set (36 proteins)Pairwise win rate (average pairwise win rate against all other VEPs, |Spearman| with DMS on shared variants, 36 human DMS sets), percent71.442.4MutFormer
Livesey and Marsh 2025 DMS benchmark: pairwise |Spearman| win rate, all 36 DMS setsLivesey and Marsh 2025 human DMS benchmark set (36 proteins)Pairwise win rate (average pairwise win rate against the five top-ranked VEPs (column top_5_winrate; the five are not listed in the table), |Spearman| with DMS on shared variants, 36 human DMS sets), percent17.26.76MutFormer
Livesey and Marsh 2025 DMS benchmark: pairwise |Spearman| win rate, direct assays onlyLivesey and Marsh 2025 human DMS benchmark set (36 proteins)Pairwise win rate (average pairwise win rate against all other VEPs, |Spearman| with DMS on shared variants, direct DMS assays only), percent74.741.5MutFormer
Livesey and Marsh 2025 DMS benchmark: pairwise |Spearman| win rate, indirect assays onlyLivesey and Marsh 2025 human DMS benchmark set (36 proteins)Pairwise win rate (average pairwise win rate against all other VEPs, |Spearman| with DMS on shared variants, indirect DMS assays only), percent68.943.1MutFormer
Livesey and Marsh 2025 DMS benchmark: pairwise |Spearman| win rate, SNV-accessible substitutions onlyLivesey and Marsh 2025 human DMS benchmark set (36 proteins)Pairwise win rate (average pairwise win rate against all other VEPs, |Spearman| with DMS on shared variants, SNV-accessible substitutions only), percent71.442.4MutFormer
Livesey and Marsh 2025 DMS benchmark: pairwise |Spearman| win rate, SNV-accessible substitutions with gaps filledLivesey and Marsh 2025 human DMS benchmark set (36 proteins)Pairwise win rate (average pairwise win rate against all other VEPs, |Spearman| with DMS, SNV-accessible substitutions, missing predictions filled with the VEP's most benign score), percent70.544.1MutFormer
Comparisons in An openly licensed benchmark… (6)
ProtocolDatasetMetricMutFormerPolyPhen-2Higher
CGC missense oncogenicity, all genes (Lee 2026, OncoCal tool_performance.tsv)Missense variants in 768 Cancer Gene Census genes with open oncogenicity labelsAUROC (CGC missense, all genes), unitless0.6930.814PolyPhen-2
CGC missense oncogenicity, all genes (Lee 2026, OncoCal tool_performance.tsv)Missense variants in 768 Cancer Gene Census genes with open oncogenicity labelsAverage precision (CGC missense, all genes), unitless0.4460.47PolyPhen-2
CGC missense oncogenicity, oncogenes (gain of function) (Lee 2026, OncoCal tool_performance.tsv)Missense variants in 768 Cancer Gene Census genes with open oncogenicity labelsAUROC (CGC missense, oncogenes (gain of function)), unitless0.7680.805PolyPhen-2
CGC missense oncogenicity, oncogenes (gain of function) (Lee 2026, OncoCal tool_performance.tsv)Missense variants in 768 Cancer Gene Census genes with open oncogenicity labelsAverage precision (CGC missense, oncogenes (gain of function)), unitless0.5820.541MutFormer
CGC missense oncogenicity, tumour suppressors (loss of function) (Lee 2026, OncoCal tool_performance.tsv)Missense variants in 768 Cancer Gene Census genes with open oncogenicity labelsAUROC (CGC missense, tumour suppressors (loss of function)), unitless0.6550.847PolyPhen-2
CGC missense oncogenicity, tumour suppressors (loss of function) (Lee 2026, OncoCal tool_performance.tsv)Missense variants in 768 Cancer Gene Census genes with open oncogenicity labelsAverage precision (CGC missense, tumour suppressors (loss of function)), unitless0.2860.409PolyPhen-2

What disagrees

studies
2
Compared
MutFormer, PolyPhen-2
Study that disagrees
Other studies
Rule
two-study-conflict; unknown
Model identity
Matched across studies partly through links not yet reviewed

Follow-up

Current state: Not yet reviewed.

No one has reviewed this finding yet.

How to help resolve this

If you know why these studies disagree, for example a different population, metric or preprocessing step, or you have a corrected value, tell us through the contribution form. A reviewer checks every submission against its source before anything changes, and the step is added to the follow-up above.

Finding discrepancy-42f49d4564b65f62 · All contested results · How findings are made and followed up