To investigate whether COVID-19–induced cytokine storm is sufficient to trigger APOL1 expression in human glomerular cells, we cultured primary human podocytes isolated from deceased donor kidney and primary human GECs in 18 cytokines and chemokines previously reported to be elevated in the serum of patients with SARS-CoV-2 (Figure 3A) (4, 17). Here, APOL1 is linked to COVID-19.