Krüppel-like factor 17 upregulates uterine corin expression and promotes spiral artery remodeling in pregnancy
Can Wang, Zhiting Wang, Meiling He, Tiantian Zhou, Yayan Niu, Shengxuan Sun, Hui Li, Ce Zhang, Shengnan Zhang, Meng Liu, Ying Xu, Ningzheng Dong, Qingyu Wu
Abstract
Significance In pregnancy, blood vessels in the uterus increase in size, providing more blood supply and nutrients to the growing fetus. Corin is an enzyme that boosts this process. In this study, we sought to understand how uterine corin production is controlled. In experiments with human uterine cells and pregnant mice, we identified a protein, called Krüppel-like factor 17 (KLF17), which turns on the corin gene in the pregnant uterus. In genetically modified mice, Klf17 deficiency prevents uterine corin production, decreases uterine vessel size, and causes high blood pressure in pregnancy. These results show that KLF17 is a gene-controlling protein important for uterus function in pregnancy.