APOL 1 and kidney disease

APOL1 gene variants have been described to offer higher risk to develop hypertension, collapsing nephropthy and end stage kidney disease. The prevalence of mutations of the APOL1 gene among afro-descendant patients with chronic kidney disease for the G1 and the G2 variants can be of 20–22% and 13–15%, respectively [1]. Moreover this can be a greater problem in afrodescendante based populations, for instance, in Colombia, the genetic background of the populations was shaped by different levels of admixture between Natives, European, and Africans. Approximately 35.363 patients have diagnosed chronic kidney disease and according to population studies, 10.4% of these patients are Afro-descendant, and these frecuency can be as high as 90% in some áreas of this country. Given the importance that accounts on this area in the last years, the purpose of this review is to highlight the majors improvements in the understanding on the biology, pathophysiology and kidney disease development on patients affected with this genetic high risk variants.