Endocrine Abstracts

Primary hyperaldosteronism (PA) is the most frequent cause of secondary hypertension. PA detection is of particular importance, because it provides opportunity for targeted treatment (surgical for APA and medical for BAH), and because it has been demonstrated that PA patients are more prone to cardiovascular events and target organ damage than essential hypertensives. The Endocrine Society Guidelines stated the categories of hypertensive patients with relatively high prevalenc...

Potassium channels regulate the membrane voltage of aldosterone-producing glomerulosa cells in the adrenal glands. They are required for the unique K+ sensitivity of these cells and are targets of angiotensin II signaling. Several K+ channels show high levels of expression in the adrenal cortex and are believed to be important for the control of hormone secretion, e.g. KCNJ5, TASK1, TASK3, KCNMA1, and KCNQ1.In a pioneering study, Li...

Visinin-like 1 (VSNL1) is upregulated in aldosterone-producing adenomas (APA) compared to normal adrenals. We demonstrate that VSNL1 overexpression in adrenocortical carcinoma cells (NCI H295R) upregulates basal and angiotensin II (Ang II)-stimulated CYP11B2 gene expression 3.2- and 1.5-fold, respectively. Conversely, silencing VSNL1 by RNA interference decreases Ang II-stimulated CYP11B2 expression and aldosterone secretion by 41 and 34.5%, respectively. Mutations in the pota...

Primary Aldosteronism (PA) is the most frequent cause of secondary hypertension and patients display an increased prevalence of cardiovascular events compared to essential hypertensives. To date, three familial forms of PA have been described and termed, familial hyperaldosteronism types I, II and III (FH-I to -III). The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and clinical characteristics of the three forms of FH in a large population of PA patients. Three hundred ...

Diagnosis of primary aldosteronism (PA) is made by screening, confirmation testing and subtype diagnosis (CT scan and adrenal vein sampling, AVS). However, some tests are costly and unavailable in most hospitals. We evaluated the role of serum 18-hydroxycorticosterone (s18OHB) and urinary and serum 18-hydroxycortisol (u and s18OHF) and 18-oxocortisol (u and s18oxoF) in the diagnosis of PA and its subtypes, aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA) and bilateral adrenal hyperplasia (...

Primary Aldosteronism (PA) is the most frequent cause of endocrine hypertension. Three forms of familial hyperaldosteronism (FH) have been described, named FH-I to -III. Recently, a mutation of KCNJ5 has been shown to be associated with FH-III, whereas the cause of FH-II is still unknown. In this study we searched for mutations in KCNJ5 in 46 patients from 21 families with FH, in which FH-I was excluded. We identified a new germline G151E mutation in two PA affected subjects f...