APOL1 and diabetic kidney disease: However, other forms of CKD that are generally thought to be acquired, such as hypertensive and diabetic nephropathies, for which few nephrologists in our survey indicated a potential value in genetic testing, can also have heritable components.16, 17, 18, 19 Progression of hypertensive and glomerular kidney diseases is also associated with genetic risk factors, such as variants in APOL1, which are present in ∼10% of the African American population.20