Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common disorder: it affects 13.3 million people in the world, with 1.7 million deaths a year and costs more than breast, lung and bowel cancer together. AKI can be caused by many conditions, such as dehydration, use of certain drugs, exposure to toxic substances, major infections, surgery. Until now, AKI, if not fatal, has been considered as a potentially reversible disease.
A study carried out by Paola Romagnani, head of the Nephrology and Dialysis Unit at the Meyer University Hospital and professor of Nephrology at the Department of Biomedical, Experimental and Clinical Sciences "Mario Serio", and by her group - in particular by Elena Lazzeri and Maria Lucia Angelotti - published in Nature Communications, revolutionizes our knowledge on this important disease.
