Assembly and disassembly of stress granules in kidney diseases

Stress granules (SGs), transient membraneless biomolecular condensates assembling dynamically under stress conditions, mainly comprise untranslated mRNAs and RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) to orchestrate cellular stress adaptation. SGs biogenesis progresses through translation arrest-induced mRNA condensation, liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS)-mediated assembly, and subsequent maturation, while their disassembly enables translational recovery after stress relief. SGs emerge as promising therapeutic targets through dynamic regulation to counteract stress conditions, yet their pathological dysregulation disrupts cellular homeostasis, positioning these dynamic biomolecular as potential therapeutic targets through modulation of their assembly and disassembly equilibrium. While SGs biogenesis-disassembly mechanisms in renal contexts remain enigmatic, this review systematically examines their interplay with pathological state (e.g., hyperosmolarity, acidosis, and aging) and dual roles in renal pathophysiology - facilitating repair or driving progression in acute kidney injury, kidney cancer, and hereditary nephropathies. Our synthesis of SGs mediated stress adaptation mechanisms highlights critical knowledge gaps in nephrology.