KidneyGenAfrica multi-cohort Genome-wide association study and polygenic prediction of kidney function in 110,000 Africans
Kamiza, A. B., Chikowore, T., Chen, G. , Ojewunmi, O., Machipisa, T., Zhou, F. 
ORCID: 0000-0002-9851-8312, Mayanja, R., Toure, S., Soremekun, O., Kintu, C., Nakabuye, M., Koprulu, M., Kalungi, A., Kalyesubula, R., Salako, B., Nashiru, O., Corpas, M., Robinson-Cohen, C., Franceschini, N., Pattaro, C., Köttgen, A., Nitsch, D., Langenberg, C., Tcheandjieu, C., Nyirenda, M., Morris, A. P., Asimit, J., Zeggini, E., Rotimi, C., Ramsay, M., Adeyemo, A., Fabian, J., Crampin, A. C., Brandenburg, J-T. & Fatumo, S. (2026).
KidneyGenAfrica multi-cohort Genome-wide association study and polygenic prediction of kidney function in 110,000 Africans.
Nature Communications,
doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-69367-3
Abstract
Kidney disease disproportionately affects populations of African ancestry, yet most genetic studies have focused on Europeans. Here, we present a three-stage genome-wide association study meta-analysis of estimated glomerular filtration rate in ~26,000 individuals across Eastern, Western, and Southern Africa and ~81,000 African-ancestry individuals in the diaspora. Continental African meta-analysis identifies four independent genome-wide significant loci, including two previously unreported loci. Pan-African meta-analysis identifies 19 independent loci, including three previously unreported loci. Fine-mapping reveals four loci with high causality probability, and phenome-wide analyses demonstrate pleiotropic effects on cardiometabolic and immunological traits. Notably,
APOL1
high-risk variants strongly associated with kidney disease in African Americans show markedly lower frequency and attenuated effects in continental Africa, indicating potential distinct genetic architectures. Polygenic scores from genetically similar populations significantly outperformed those from distant cohorts. These findings demonstrate the necessity of conducting genomic research across diverse African populations to enable equitable health outcomes.
| Publication Type: | Article |
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| Additional Information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Publisher Keywords: | Genetic association study, Genetics |
| Subjects: | Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology R Medicine > R Medicine (General) R Medicine > RC Internal medicine |
| Departments: | Bayes Business School |
| SWORD Depositor: |
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
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