Renal hypoxia occurs in AKI of various etiologies, but adaptation to hypoxia, mediated by
hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), is incomplete in these conditions. Preconditional HIF
activation protects against renal ischemia-reperfusion injury, yet the mechanisms involved
are largely unknown, and HIF-mediated renoprotection has not been examined in other
causes of AKI. Here, we show that selective activation of HIF in renal tubules, through Pax8-
rtTA–based inducible knockout of von Hippel-Lindau protein (VHL-KO), protects from …