ArticleScience advances2025
Kir7.1 is the physiological target for hormones and steroids that regulate uteroplacental function.
Article in Science advances, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Basic research into Women's Health should be a priority for all.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Ion Channels as Gatekeepers of Fertility: From Uterine Kir7.1 to Sperm CatSper.Physiology (Bethesda, Md.) · 2026Review
- Bioactive lipid-mediated structural and functional regulation of the essential human potassium channel Kir7.1.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Differential regulation of gene co-expression modules in muscles and liver of preterm newborns.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
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Abstract
Preterm birth is detrimental to the well-being of both the mother and the newborn. During normal gestation, the myometrium is maintained in a quiescent state by progesterone. As a steroid hormone, progesterone is thought to modify uterine and placental morphology by altering gene expression, but another direct mode of action has long been suspected. Here, we reveal the nongenomic molecular mechanism of progesterone as the activation of human and murine inwardly rectifying potassium channel Kir7.1, which is expressed in myometrium and placental pericytes during late gestation. Kir7.1 is also activated by selective steroids, including those used to prevent premature labor, such as 17-α-hydroxyprogesterone caproate and dydrogesterone, revealing their unexpected mode of action. Our results reveal that Kir7.1 is the molecular target of both endogenous and synthetic steroids that control uterine excitability and placental function. Kir7.1, therefore, is a promising therapeutic target to support healthy pregnancy during mid and late gestation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.