Abstract: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication of major diseases.In past decades,morbidity and mortality of AKI have increased significantly. The standard indicators used to define and monitor the progression of AKI (such as serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels) are insensitive and non-specific,no AKI biomarkers have been widely accepted and adopted in clinical practice. Currently, it has been found that the imbalance of inflammatory response, ischemia reperfusion, cell apoptosis, mitochondrial function and so on play an important role in occurrence and development of AKI. However, current mechanisms are unable to explain the wide variability in the occurrence and severity of AKI, indicating the differences in individual genetic susceptibility. Therefore, genetic polymorphism caused by genetic variation provides a promising research direction.With the deepening of gene research, more and more studies have shown that genetic factors have significant association with the risk and prognosis of AKI. Genetic factors have been identified as potential causes of susceptibility and severity of AKI. In this paper, research progress of gene polymorphism and AKI is briefly reviewed.

Key words: acute kidney injury, gene polymorphism, inheritance