Organ transplant recipients exhibit lower rates of immune response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination. Even when they do mount a demonstrable antibody response, it is unclear what degree of protection is conferred against the myriad potential complications of COVID-19 infection. We present here a case of a kidney transplant recipient who was homozygous for APOL1 risk alleles on low-dose immunosuppression who developed an antibody response to COVID-19 vaccination and subsequently acquired COVID-19 infection. Although she experienced relatively minor effects in other organ systems, she developed severe collapsing focal segmental glomerulosclerosis that left her dependent on hemodialysis on hospital discharge. This suggests that COVID-19 vaccination may not provide protection from infection-associated focal segmental glomerulosclerosis in patients with APOL1 risk alleles.
Data Availability
Data will be made available on request.
Cited by (0)
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.