NPHS2-V260E Is a Frequent Cause of Steroid-Resistant Nephrotic Syndrome in Black South African Children

Familial idiopathic nephrotic syndromes represent a heterogeneous group of kidney disorders, and include autosomal recessive steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome, which is characterized by early childhood onset of proteinuria, rapid progression to end-stage renal disease and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. A causative gene for this disease, NPHS2, was mapped to 1q25-31 and we report here its identification by positional cloning. NPHS2 is almost exclusively expressed in the podocytes of fetal and mature kidney glomeruli, and encodes a new integral membrane protein, podocin, belonging to the stomatin protein family. We found ten different NPHS2 mutations, comprising nonsense, frameshift and missense mutations, to segregate with the disease, demonstrating a crucial role for podocin in the function of the glomerular filtration barrier.

Steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome is a rare kidney disease involving either immune-mediated or genetic alterations of podocyte structure and function. The rare nature, heterogeneity, and slow evolution of the disorder are major obstacles to systematic genotype-phenotype, intervention, and outcome studies, hampering the development of evidence-based diagnostic and therapeutic concepts. To overcome these limitations, the PodoNet Consortium has created an international registry for congenital nephrotic syndrome and childhood-onset steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome.

APOL1 kidney disease is a unique case in the field of the genetics of common disease: 2 variants (termed G1 and G2) with high population frequency have been repeatedly associated with nondiabetic CKDs, with very strong effect size (odds ratios 3-29) in populations of sub-Saharan African descent. This review provides an update on the spectrum of APOL1 kidney disease and on the worldwide distribution of these kidney risk variants. We also summarize the proper way to run a recessive analysis on joint and independent effects of APOL1 G1 and G2 kidney risk variants.