Chronic kidney disease in African Americans: Puzzle pieces are falling into place

Recent decades have seen great advances in the understanding of chronic kidney disease, spurred by standardizing disease definitions and large-scale patient surveillance. African Americans are disproportionately affected by the disease, and recently discovered genetic variants in APOL1 that protect against sleeping sickness in Africa provide an important explanation for the increased burden. Studies are now under way to determine if genetic testing of African American transplant donors and recipients is advisable.