New insights into immune cell diversity in acute kidney injury

Acute kidney injury(AKI)is a frequent complication affecting hospitalized patients in medical wards and usually arises from ischemia‒reperfusion injury(IRI),sepsis,and nephrotoxic drugs.Excess infiltration and activation of immune cells in the kidney induce a continuous inflammatory response,which is characterized by substantial cytotoxicity that ultimately exacerbates kidney damage[1].The role of individual immune cell types in AKI has been mostly investigated in previous years.However,despite the successful results in experimental studies,treatments targeting a broad immune response have yielded minor improvements in patient outcomes,in part due to the imprecise understanding of immune cell heterogeneity.Recently,the focus of AKI research has shifted toward gaining insight into the heterogeneity and dynamic changes in immune cells with novel experimental approaches such as single-cell analysis,thereby redefining AKI pathophysiology.