Furthermore, the protective effect of RIPC on the development of IRI-induced AKI was also completely abrogated in conditional TLR4-KO mice specifically lacking TLR4 on renal tubular epithelial cells, where the cell-specific deletion of TLR4 was achieved by using Ksp-Cre mice, allowing us to selectively target proteins in proximal tubules for genetic ablation (TLR4fl/flKsp-Cre+/T, or TLR4/Ksp-Cre; Figure 3, C and D). This evidence concerns the gene TLR4 and acute kidney injury.