GEN-AFRICA

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Genetic markers of kidney disease progression in people of African heritage in the UK CHIC cohort (GEN-AFRICA)

• IRAS ID

  239895

• Contact name

  Frank Post

• Contact email

  frank.post@kcl.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

• Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

  00/MREC/7/47 , UK CHIC study

• Duration of Study in the UK

  2 years, 0 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  Black ethnicity is a major risk factor for chronic kidney disease, suggesting that genetic factors are an important determinant of kidney disease progression in this population. The GEN-AFRICA study aims to explore the genetic risk factors for kidney disease in black people with HIV infection. We will focus on 2 candidate genes (apolipoprotein L1 [APOL1] and sickle cell trait [SCT]) that have been associated with chronic kidney disease in individuals with African ancestry, with the option to explore a possible role for other genes. This will be the first study to investigate the genetic basis of chronic kidney disease in the UK.
  Lay summary of study results: People of Black ethnicities are at increased risk of developing kidney disease which is linked to genetic variants of the apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1) gene which provides protection against a disease called sleeping sickness. We conducted a large study called GEN-AFRICA to investigate the relationship between variants of the APOL1 gene and kidney disease in Black people with HIV. Between May 2018 and February 2020, we recruited 3,000 individuals and found that those with two variants of the APOL1 gene were much more likely to have kidney disease. Kidney failure (where the kidneys stop working altogether) was about 10 times more common in those with two variant APOL1 genes as compared to those with a single variant gene or no variant gene. We found that having two variants of the APOL1 gene accounted for about half of all severe kidney disease in Black people with HIV. The APOL1 variants are particularly common in people of West African and Caribbean ancestry.

• REC name

  London - Queen Square Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  18/LO/0234

• Date of REC Opinion

  3 Apr 2018

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion