Abstract: Renal cell death is an important pathological basis for acute kidney injury (AKI). Various forms of renal cell death such as apoptosis and regulated necrosis (including necroptosis, pyroptosis and ferroptosis) are involved in the pathogenesis of AKI. Nowadays, targeting renal cell death for AKI therapy has become a hot issue in this area. This review highlights the mechanisms and roles of different forms of renal cell death in AKI and the recent advances in targeting renal cell death for AKI therapy, in order to provide a new theoretical foundation for the treatment of AKI.

Key words: Renal cell death, AKI, Targeting therapy