APOL1 variants and kidney disease. There is no such thing as a free lunch*

Kronenberg, Florian

Division of Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Medical Genetics, Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Innsbruck Medical University, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria

Correspondence and offprint requests to: Florian Kronenberg; E-mail: [email protected]

* Comment on Genovese G, Friedman DJ, Ross MD et al. Association of trypanolytic ApoL1 variants with kidney disease in African Americans. Science 2010; 329: 841–845.

Received November 14, 2010

Accepted November 16, 2010

Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation 26(3):p 775-778, March 2011. | DOI: 10.1093/ndt/gfq753

A recent study by Genovese et al. unraveled the findings of the intensively discussed gene region around MYH9 and its association with non-diabetic chronic kidney disease in African-Americans. First, it is not the genetic variation in MYH9 but in the neighbouring APOL1 that causes the strong association with disease in African-Americans and second, the study showed strong evidence for a positive selection against vulnerability for Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense infection but at the price of a higher susceptibility of non-diabetic chronic kidney disease. This overview reviews the findings and the possible impact of the study mentioned above as well as of related studies.