Industry Webinar: APOL1-Mediated Kidney Disease (AMKD): Beneath the Surface of CKD in People of African Ancestry

Worldwide people of African ancestry suffer an excess of kidney failure. A portion of this links to carrying two copies of variants of the APOL1 gene. APOL1-Mediated Kidney Disease (AMKD) presents a spectrum of variably proteinuric CKD progressing to kidney failure 9-12 years earlier than in those without the variants. The genotype is linked to nephrotic syndrome due to FSGS as well as to CKD misattributed to hypertension. Earlier screening for CKD and genetic testing to determine AMKD as the cause must be utilized broadly to find these patients, hidden in plain sight.

 Learning objectives:

- Participants will be able to describe the wide spectrum of AMKD presentations and know when to include the disease in differential diagnosis of kidney disease.
- Participants will understand the inheritance of the APOL1 risk variants and nature of environmental “second hits” that trigger clinical disease.
- Participants will understand the need for closer monitoring of people with CKD who carry two APOL1 variants due to more rapid progression of kidney disease.
- Participants will understand the value of performing genetic testing to determine cause of chronic kidney disease.

Further reading:

- Genovese G, Friedman DJ, Ross MD, et al. Association of trypanolytic ApoL1 variants with kidney disease in African Americans. Science 2010; 329:841–845.
- Freedman BI, Cohen AH. Hypertension-attributed nephropathy: what’s in a name? Nat Rev Nephrol 2016; 12:27–36.
- Friedman DJ, Ma L, Freedman BI. Treatment potential in APOL1-associated nephropathy. Current Opinion in Nephrology and Hypertension 31(5):p 442-448, September 2022.
- Pell J, Nagata S, Menon MC. Nonpodocyte Roles of APOL1 Variants: An Evolving Paradigm. KIDNEY360 2023; 4:1325–1331.

This webinar was organized by: