Newswise — ST. LOUIS – African Americans have an increased risk of kidney failure, and new research shows that some of this risk is related to variations in a gene called apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1). It’s a risk Deryl Cunningham, a kidney transplant patient at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital, knows all too well.
When Cunningham was diagnosed with stage 2 kidney disease by a doctor in Terre Haute, Indiana, he assumed he had been handed a death sentence. Upon relocating to Edwardsville, Illinois, a local nephrologist mentioned rare instances that kidney disease can be reversed. From there, he began his research. Read more.