APOL1 Genetic Testing Program for Living Donors
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT04910867. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Official title
Integrating a Culturally Competent APOL1 Genetic Testing Program Into Living Donor Evaluation
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Living donor (LD) kidney transplantation is the optimal treatment for patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). However, LDs take on a higher risk of future ESKD themselves. African American (AA) LDs have an even greater, 3.3-fold, risk of ESKD than white LDs post-donation. Because evidence suggests that Apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1) risk variants contribute to this greater risk, transplant nephrologists are increasingly using APOL1 testing to evaluate LD candidates of African ancestry. However, nephrologists do not consistently perform genetic counseling with LD candidates about APOL1 due to a lack of knowledge and skill in counseling about APOL1. Without proper counseling, APOL1 testing will magnify LD candidates' decisional conflict about donating, jeopardizing their informed consent. Given their elevated risk of ESRD post-donation, and AAs' widely-held cultural concerns about genetic testing, it is ethically critical to protect AA LD candidates' safety through APOL1 testing in a culturally competent manner to improve informed decisions about donating. No transplant programs have integrated APOL1 testing into LD evaluation in a culturally competent manner. Clinical "chatbots," mobile apps that use artificial intelligence to provide genetic information to patients and relieve constraints on clinicians' time, can improve informed treatment decisions and reduce decisional conflict. The chatbot "Gia," created by a medical genetics company, can be adapted to any condition. However, no chatbot on APOL1 is currently available. No counseling training programs are available for nephrologists to counsel AA LDs about APOL1 and donation in a culturally competent manner. Given the shortage of genetic counselors, increasing nephrologists' genetic literacy is critical to integrating genetic testing into practice. The objective of this study is to culturally adapt and evaluate the effectiveness of an APOL1 testing program for AA LDs at two transplant centers serving large AA LD populations (Chicago, IL, and Washington, DC). The APOL1 testing program will evaluate the effect of the culturally competent testing, chatbot, and counseling on AA LD candidates' decisional conflict about donating, preparedness for decision-making, willingness to donate, and satisfaction with informed consent. The specific aims are to: 1. Adapt Gia and transplant counseling to APOL1 for use in routine clinical practice 2. Evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention on decisional conflict, preparedness, and willingness to donate in a pre-post design 3. Evaluate the implementation of this intervention into clinical practice by using the RE-AIM framework to longitudinally evaluate nephrologist counseling practices and LDs' satisfaction with informed consent. The impact of this study will be the creation of a model for APOL1 testing of AA LDs, which can then be implemented nationally via implementation science approaches. APOL1 will serve as a model for integrating culturally competent genetic testing into transplant and other practices to improve patient informed consent.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT04910867
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 280 participants
Conditions and interventions
Interventions
- Components of Genetic Counseling Behavioral
- APOL1 genetic testing Diagnostic Test
- EHR integration Other
Behavioral · Diagnostic Test · Other
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Healthy volunteers not accepted
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Sep 8, 2021
- Primary completion
- Jun 23, 2025
- Completion
- Jun 23, 2025
- Last update posted
- Sep 1, 2026
2021 – 2025
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 2
- U.S. states
- 2
- U.S. cities
- 2
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medstar Georgetown Transplant Institute | Washington D.C. | District of Columbia | 20007 | — |
| Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine | Chicago | Illinois | 60611 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT04910867, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Sep 1, 2026 · Synced Sep 5, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT04910867 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.