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Professor Shibata's research group has revealed that potassium balance in the blood is maintained by cooperation between red blood cells and the kidneys via the mechanical sensor Piezo1.

On Monday, January 19, 2026, a research group led by Professor Shigeru Shibata of the Department Internal Medicine at Teikyo University School of Medicine and part-time Senior Assistant Professor Kenichi Ishizawa of the same department revealed that red blood cells and the kidneys work together to maintain potassium balance in the blood by exchanging information via a sensor called "Piezo1 ^*1​^"and a regulatory molecule called KLHL3 *2. This discovery is expected to lead to the development of new treatments for potassium abnormalities.

This result was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on Wednesday, January 14th (local time).

• *1 Piezo1: A protein that acts as a mechanosensor. It is expressed in many cells, and when stimulated, calcium ions flow into the cell, transmitting this information as an intracellular signal.
• *2 KLHL3: One of the molecules that make up a protein complex called ubiquitin ligase, which plays a role in appropriately regulating the amount of protein within the cell.

Press release here
Click here for the article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
For more information about Professor Shigeru Shibata, click here

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