Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a heterogeneous syndrome characterized by a dramatic increase in serum creatinine. Mild AKI may merely be confined to kidney damage and resolve within days; however, severe AKI commonly involves extrarenal organ dysfunction and is associated with high mortality. There is no specific pharmaceutical treatment currently available that can reverse the course of this disease. Notably, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) show great promise for the management of AKI by targeting multiple pathophysiological pathways to facilitate tubular epithelial cell repair. It has been well established that the unique characteristics of MSCs make them ideal vectors for gene therapy. Thus, genetic modification has been attempted to achieve improved therapeutic outcomes in the management of AKI by overexpressing trophic cytokines or facilitating MSC delivery to renal tissues. The present article provides a comprehensive review of genetic modification strategies targeted at optimizing the therapeutic potential of MSCs in AKI.

中文翻译：

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间充质干细胞作为治疗药物和新型载体的急性肾脏损伤中候选基因的传递。

急性肾损伤（AKI）是一种异质综合症，其特征是血清肌酐急剧增加。轻度AKI可能仅局限于肾脏损害并在几天之内解决；然而，严重的AKI通常涉及肾外器官功能障碍，并伴有高死亡率。目前尚无可逆转此病病程的特定药物治疗。值得注意的是，间充质干细胞（MSC）通过靶向多种病理生理途径来促进肾小管上皮细胞修复，显示出对AKI的管理的巨大希望。众所周知，MSC的独特特性使其成为基因治疗的理想载体。从而，通过过表达营养细胞因子或促进MSC向肾组织的递送，已经尝试了基因修饰以改善AKI的治疗效果。本文提供了旨在优化AKI中MSCs治疗潜力的基因修饰策略的全面综述。