**6. Conclusions and further perspective**

Studies performed over several decades have substantially improved our knowledge of the expression of K+ channels in the vascular system and their roles in regulating vascular tone and tissue perfusion. Dysfunctional K+ channels can alter vascular homeostasis through heterogeneous and complex mechanisms. K+ channels are targets for gene therapy for hypertension. The BK β1 subunit, KV 1.5, KV 7.4, and some other genes should be studied as gene therapy targets. However, some remaining questions still deserve to study. How these K+ channels work in microvasculature? How can we design better drugs to target these channels with some degree of specificity?

### **Acknowledgements/funding**

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81370304); Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20151085); Jiangsu Provincial Key Research and Development Program (BE2018611); the 10th Summit of Six Top Talents of Jiangsu Province (2016-WSN-185); Medical Science and technology development Foundation of Nanjing Department of Health (YKK15101, ZKX16048).

### **Conflicts of interest**

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
