Risk Factor for Common Kidney Disease

In the American population ESKD is more common in African Americans than in European Americans. This difference can be exploited by a method known as 'admixture mapping', in which the genome is scanned for variants that occur both more frequently in individuals with the disease and in regions that are inherited from African populations.

Two groups led by Wen Hong Linda Kao and Cheryl Winkler used this approach to show that variants in the gene MYH9 are associated with susceptibility to ESKD and a specific form of ESKD, known as focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), respectively. MYH9, which is expressed in the kidney, encodes one of a family of proteins that make up nonmuscle myosin, and has diverse roles in cells. The authors suggest that variation at MYH9 accounts for a substantial fraction of the increased risk of ESKD in African Americans.

Author contacts:

Cheryl Winkler (National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, USA)
E-mail: winkler@ncifcrf.gov

Wen Hong Linda Kao (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA)
E-mail: wkao@jhsph.edu

Abstracts available online:
Paper 1.
Paper 2.

(C) Nature Genetics press release.

Message posted by: Trevor M. D'Souza