Ischemic Kidney Injury and Kidney Repair: Stress Granules

In the United States, over 300,000 cases of acute kidney injury (AKI) are diagnosed each year with high mortality and staggering medical expense. Veterans are highly susceptible to AKI as shown by the Austin Automation Center Patient Files. AKI is also a common complication among military casualties in battle-fields. Moreover, even if the AKI patients have survived the acute injury, maladaptive kidney repair after AKI may result in chronic kidney disease (CKD) that contributes significantly to cardiovascular disease and mortality in aging patients including veterans. In the general population, 15-20% of AKI cases progress to CKD within 24 months; however, AKI-CKD transition in veterans is markedly higher and faster, reaching 31.8% in 12 months (Heung et al. Am J Kidney Dis 2016, 67:742-52). By elucidating stress granules in AKI and post-AKI kidney repair, this application may lead to new strategies for the prevention and treatment of this devastating disease, contributing significantly to the improvement of veterans’ health.