Extensive or recurring sublethal epithelial trauma, usually in the context of persistent transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) pathway activation, initiates and sustains a program of maladaptive repair that facilitates the progression of AKI to CKD (Friedman et al., 2013; Emlet et al., 2015; Ferenbach and Bonventre, 2015; Venkatachalam et al., 2015; Basile et al., 2016; Takaori et al., 2016; Chang-Panesso and Humphreys, 2017; Schnaper, 2017; Chung et al., 2018; Qi and Yang, 2018; Gewin, 2019; Tang et al., 2020; Figure 2). This evidence concerns the gene TGFB1 and acute kidney injury.