Recycling to discover something new: the role of autophagy in kidney disease.

This year, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his groundbreaking work in dissecting the mechanisms of autophagy, a cellular process resulting in the organized degradation of cytoplasmic components. Ohsumi's work paved the way for subsequent studies that demonstrated critical roles for autophagy in modulating both acute and chronic kidney injury. This work may lead to future therapeutic approaches that target the autophagy system to prevent or treat kidney diseases. Published by Elsevier Inc.