Although initial kidney lesions and treatment responses were similar, a single APOL1 RRA in non-white Brazilians with LN was associated with increased risk of advanced CKD and possibly more tubulo-interstitial damage.
APOL1 alleles G1 and G2 are associated with faster progression to lupus nephritis (LN)-associated end-stage renal disease (LN-ESRD) in African Americans.
Genome-wide association studies have identified a substantial signal at 22q13, now assigned to variation at apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1), which has associated with progressive nondiabetic nephropathy, cardiovascular disease, and many immune-associated renal diseases, including lupus nephritis.
APOL1 G1 and G2 nephropathy alleles were genotyped in 855 African American SLE patients with LN-ESRD (cases) and 534 African American SLE patients without nephropathy (controls) and tested for association under a recessive genetic model, by logistic regression.
This study provides the first investigation of MYH9 in LN in non-Africans and of APOL1 in LN in any population, and presents novel insight into the potential role of MYH9 in LN in EAs.