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Genetics

Strong association of APOL1 risk variants with HIV-associated nephropathy in black South Africans

Nature Reviews Nephrology volume 11, page 318 (2015)Cite this article

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The APOL1 G1 and G2 risk variants contribute to the increased risk of HIV-associated nephropathy (HIVAN) in African Americans with HIV; however, the prevalence of APOL1 risk variants and their effect on chronic kidney disease (CKD) and HIVAN in black South Africans is unknown. Research now shows that the effect size of APOL1 risk alleles on HIVAN might be stronger for black South Africans than for African Americans, despite these variants being present at similar proportions in the two HIVAN case groups.

“Although only about 2–4% of black Africans in the Johannesburg area carry high risk APOL1 genotypes, nearly 80% of those with HIVAN carried two risk alleles, giving an extremely high odds ratio for HIVAN of 89 compared with an odds ratio of 29 in African Americans,” explains researcher Cheryl Winkler. “This represents a striking example of a gene–environment interaction where HIV interacts with APOL1 to cause collapsing glomerulopathy.”

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References

  1. Kasembeli, A. N. et al. APOL1 risk variants are strongly associated with HIV-associated nephropathy in black South Africans. J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. 10.1681/ASN.2014050469

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Authors
  1. Susan J. Allison
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Allison, S. Strong association of APOL1 risk variants with HIV-associated nephropathy in black South Africans. Nat Rev Nephrol 11, 318 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2015.51

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