Kidney ischemia[1] is a disease with a high morbidity and mortality rate.[2] Blood vessels shrink and undergo apoptosis which results in poor blood flow in the kidneys. More complications happen when failure of the kidney functions result in toxicity in various parts of the body which may cause septic shock, hypovolemia, and a need for surgery.[3] What causes kidney ischemia is not entirely known, but several pathophysiology relating to this disease have been elucidated. Possible causes of kidney ischemia include the activation of IL-17C and hypoxia due to surgery or transplant. Several signs and symptoms include injury to the microvascular endothelium, apoptosis of kidney cells due to overstress in the endoplasmic reticulum, dysfunctions of the mitochondria, autophagy, inflammation of the kidneys, and maladaptive repair.[citation needed]
Kidney ischemia can be diagnosed by checking the levels of several biomarkers such as clusterin and cystatin C. While the duration of ischemia was used as a biomarker, it was found that it has significant flaws in predicting renal function outcomes. More emerging treatments are in the clinical trials such as Bendavia in targeting mitochondrial dysfunction and using Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy. Several receptors agonists and antagonists have shown promise in animal studies; however, they have not been proven clinically yet.[citation needed]