APOLLO

WELCOME!

THANK YOU for taking the time to learn about the “APOL1 Long-term Kidney Transplantation Outcomes Network” (APOLLO) study.  The APOLLO study is being done to improve outcomes after kidney donation and kidney transplantation. Genes control what you inherit from your family, such as eye color or blood type. Variation in genes can put some people at risk for developing diseases. Variation in the apolipoprotein L1 gene (called APOL1) can affect the kidneys. African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, Hispanic Blacks, and Africans are more likely to have the APOL1 gene variants that cause kidney disease. The APOLLO Network will test kidney donors and recipients of kidney transplants looking at the APOL1 gene to see how this gene affects them.

 

Please click on the accompanying infographic that provide information on what genes are, APOL1, and the APOLLO study.

 

What is APOLLO?

To begin, APOLLO is short for APOL1 Long-term Kidney Transplantation Outcomes Network (APOLLO) (protocol). APOLLO is a national study paid for by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is a collaboration with multiple institutes within the NIH including the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

 

 

The purpose of this study is to test kidney donors and kidney transplant recipients for apolipoprotein L1 gene (called APOL1) variants (or forms of the gene) and to see how these may affect them. Genes control the traits that you inherit from your family such as your eye color or blood type. Variation or changes in genes can also put some people at risk for developing certain diseases. Previous research has shown that variation in the APOL1 gene can put people at higher risk for kidney disease. African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, Hispanic Blacks and Africans are more likely to have the APOL1 gene variants that cause kidney disease than are others. The purpose of this study is to test kidney donors for APOL1 gene variants and to see how the gene may impact people who donate a kidney and those who receive a kidney transplant.

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What Does the APOLLO Study Hope to Find/Prove?

We expect that the findings of the APOLLO study will:

1.  Lead to improved clinical and cost-effective utilization of kidneys from deceased and living donors with recent African ancestry;

2.  Improve matching of kidneys with recipients to yield longer allograft (transplanted kidney) survival;

3.  Reduce ethnic disparities in outcomes;

4.  Reduce the rate of discarded kidneys;

5.  Improve evaluation, selection and counseling of potential kidney donor candidates with recent African ancestry; and

6.  Facilitate the development of a research agenda for future work on ethical issues surrounding genetic research in organ transplantation.