Autophagy protects proximal tubular cells from injury and apoptosis.

Autophagy is upregulated during ischemia-reperfusion (IR)-induced and cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury (AKI). Proximal tubule-specific Atg7 knockout mice exhibited increased renal injury compared with wild-type mice following cisplatin- and IR-induced AKI. Inhibition of autophagy by chloroquine aggravated AKI, whereas upregulation of autophagy by rapamycin recovered lost renal function and histology, further indicating a protective role of autophagy in AKI. These findings reported by Jiang et al. will provide stimulus to further examine the role and mechanism of the enhancement of autophagy in AKI.