---
title: What does progesterone do besides help with pregnancy? | Niyora
description: Progesterone is essential for the menstrual cycle and helps control other hormones, immune function, and possibly prevents disease. Without it, reproduction i
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/key-to-life-physiological-role-and-clinical-implications-of-progesterone-2021/
---

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- What does progesterone do besides help with pregnancy?

Review, 2021

# What does progesterone do besides help with pregnancy?

Progesterone is essential for the menstrual cycle and helps control other hormones, immune function, and possibly prevents disease. Without it, reproduction is not possible.

 Early or limited evidence

Women of reproductive age

## What they did

Reviewed recent scientific research on progesterone and its roles in the body.

## What they found

Progesterone is a key component of the menstrual cycle and pregnancy. It serves as a precursor to other hormones including aldosterone, cortisol, estradiol, and testosterone. Progesterone has roles in contraception, treating excessive uterine bleeding, immune response, and cancer prevention.

## What it means for you

Progesterone does much more than support pregnancy. It is essential for your menstrual cycle and helps produce other important hormones. Better understanding of how it works could improve treatment of many health conditions. This is a review of research, not original experimental data.

## About the study

Original title Key to Life: Physiological Role and Clinical Implications of Progesterone Authors Nagy B, Szekeres-Barthó J, Kovács GL et al. Journal International journal of molecular sciences Year 2021 Study design Review Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.3390/ijms222011039](https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms222011039) Original abstract

The most recent studies of progesterone research provide remarkable insights into the physiological role and clinical importance of this hormone. Although the name progesterone itself means "promoting gestation", this steroid hormone is far more than a gestational agent. Progesterone is recognized as a key physiological component of not only the menstrual cycle and pregnancy but also as an essential steroidogenic precursor of other gonadal and non-gonadal hormones such as aldosterone, cortisol, estradiol, and testosterone. Based on current findings, progesterone and novel progesterone-based drugs have many important functions, including contraception, treatment of dysfunctional uterine bleeding, immune response, and prevention of cancer. Considering the above, reproduction and life are not possible without progesterone; thus, a better understanding of this essential molecule could enable safe and effective use of this hormone in many clinical conditions.

Reproduced under CC-BY.

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[GnRH agonists and ovarian suppression](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-gnrh/)[Pregnancy and postpartum](https://niyora.com/research/topics/comorbidity-postpartum/)

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