Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common disease with high morbidity that still lacks effective drug treatments. The death of tubular epithelial cells is the principal basis for AKI. This cell death in AKI does not occur by necrosis but by other cell death mechanisms such as pyroptosis, among others. Recent findings have implicated chromodomain Y-like (CDYL) in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, but its role in AKI has not been established.