Abstract
Introduction: Apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1) gene’s risk variants located on chromosome 22 are
newly discovered factors for the development of chronic renal failure among African-American.
These risk alleles were developed on the African continent as an evolutionary defense against sleep
sickness due to Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and then spread with human migrations.
Objectives: In the present study, we sought to examine these risk variants in a group of hemodialysis
patients of Northwest of Iran.
Patients and Methods: Two hundred patients receiving hemodialysis in different centers of the city
(Tabriz in Northwest of Iran) were allocated randomly from a total number of 825 patients. The
assessment of APOL1 polymorphisms (rs73885319, rs60910145, and rs71785313) was conducted
using polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method.
Patients’ demographic data, history, and their biochemical parameters were recorded based on their
last measurement.
Results: No proposed renal risk variants of APOL1 gene in our hemodialysis population were found.
All the participants had a wild genotype.
Conclusion: The results of our study match with reports from Europe and Asia. In the
paleoanthropological point of view, our results do not support African human migration hypothesis.