On the other hand, vitamin A and RA treatment have well-documented therapeutic effects in infectious and non-infectious kidney diseases19,30,34–38 and the endogenous RA/RAR signalling in the kidney has been reported to be protective in ischaemia–reperfusion models of AKI in mice39, although the exact change and role for the RA/RAR in the CD remain un-answered. The gene discussed is RARA; the disease is acute kidney injury.