Investigations of Kidney Dysfunction-Related Gene Variants in Sickle Cell Disease Patients in Cameroon (Sub-Saharan Africa)

Background Renal dysfunctions are associated with increased morbidity and mortality in sickle cell disease (SCD). Early detection and subsequent management of SCD patients at risk for renal failure and dysfunctions are essential, however, predictors that can identify patients at risk of developing renal dysfunction are not fully understood. Methods In this study, we have investigated the association of 31 known kidney dysfunctions-related variants detected in African Americans from multi-ethnic genome wide studies (GWAS) meta-analysis, to kidney-dysfunctions in a group of 413 Cameroonian patients with SCD. Systems level bioinformatics analyses were performed, employing protein-protein interaction networks to further interrogate the putative associations. Results Up to 61% of these patients had micro-albuminuria, 2.4% proteinuria, 71% glomerular hyperfiltration, and 5.9% had renal failure. Six variants are significantly associated with the two quantifiable phenotypes of kidney dysfunction (eGFR and crude-albuminuria): A1CF-rs10994860 (P = 0.02020), SYPL2-rs12136063 (P = 0.04208), and APOL1 (G1)-rs73885319 (P = 0.04610) are associated with eGFR; and WNT7A-rs6795744 (P = 0.03730), TMEM60-rs6465825 (P = 0.02340), and APOL1 (G2)-rs71785313 (P = 0.03803) observed to be protective against micro-albuminuria. We identified a protein-protein interaction sub-network containing three of these gene variants: APOL1, SYPL2, and WNT7A, connected to the Nuclear factor NF-kappa-B p105 subunit (NFKB1), revealed to be essential and might indirectly influence extreme phenotypes. Interestingly, clinical variables, including body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure, vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC), and haemoglobin (Hb), explain better the kidney phenotypic variations in this SCD population. Conclusion This study highlights a strong contribution of haematological indices (Hb level), anthropometric variables (BMI, blood pressure), and clinical events (i.e., vaso-occlusive crisis) to kidney dysfunctions in SCD, rather than known genetic factors. Only 6/31 characterised gene-variants are associated with kidney dysfunction phenotypes in SCD samples from Cameroon. The data reveal and emphasise the urgent need to extend GWAS studies in populations of African ancestries living in Africa, and particularly for kidney dysfunctions in SCD.