Apolipoprotein L-1 renal risk variants form active channels at the plasma membrane driving cytotoxicity
- Hunter College of the City University of New York, United States
- Weill Cornell Medicine, United States
- Genosity, United States
Abstract
Recently evolved alleles of Apolipoprotein L-1 (APOL1) provide increased protection against African trypanosome parasites while also significantly increasing the risk of developing kidney disease in humans. APOL1 protects against trypanosome infections by forming ion channels within the parasite, causing lysis. While the correlation to kidney disease is robust, there is little consensus concerning the underlying disease mechanism. We show in human cells that the APOL1 renal risk variants have a population of active channels at the plasma membrane, which results in an influx of both Na+ and Ca2+. We propose a model wherein APOL1 channel activity is the upstream event causing cell death, and that the activate-state, plasma membrane-localized channel represents the ideal drug target to combat APOL1-mediated kidney disease.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Source data files have been provided for all figures in Dryad.
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Data from: Apolipoprotein L-1 Renal Risk Variants Form Active Channels at the Plasma Membrane Driving CytotoxicityDryad Digital Repository, doi:10.5061/dryad.p253c6f.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM34107)
- Enrique Javier Rodriguez-Boulan
National Science Foundation (IOS-1249166)
- Jayne Raper
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2020, Giovinazzo et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Apolipoprotein L-1 renal risk variants form active channels at the plasma membrane driving cytotoxicity
eLife 9:e51185.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.51185
