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Science 331 (6018): 685-686

Copyright © 2011 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

The Genetics of Primary Aldosteronism

John W. Funder

Most people with consistently high blood pressure have "essential" hypertension, a physician's term for "no known cause." Over the last 20 years, however, studies have shown that ~1 in 10 patients do have an identifiable cause. Such patients overproduce the adrenal steroid hormone aldosterone (primary aldosteronism), which raises blood pressure and promotes sodium retention and potassium excretion. On page 768 of this issue, Choi et al. (1) report two different mutations in the gene encoding the potassium channel KCNJ5 in patients (8 of 22) with an aldosterone-producing adrenal adenoma (APA). A third mutation in the same gene is also identified in a father and two daughters with florid adrenal hyperplasia, a hereditary condition that is treated by removing the adrenals in early childhood. The findings have implications for understanding adrenal physiology and pathology.

Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia.

E-mail: john.funder{at}princehenrys.org

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Task3 Potassium Channel Gene Invalidation Causes Low Renin and Salt-Sensitive Arterial Hypertension.
D. Penton, S. Bandulik, F. Schweda, S. Haubs, P. Tauber, M. Reichold, L. D. Cong, A. El Wakil, T. Budde, F. Lesage, et al. (2012)
Endocrinology 153, 4740-4748
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Platt versus Pickering: what molecular insight to primary hyperaldosteronism tells us about hypertension.
M. J. Brown (2012)
JRSM Cardiovascular Disease 1, 17
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Microarray, qPCR, and KCNJ5 Sequencing of Aldosterone-Producing Adenomas Reveal Differences in Genotype and Phenotype between Zona Glomerulosa- and Zona Fasciculata-Like Tumors.
E. A. B. Azizan, B. Y. H. Lam, S. J. Newhouse, J. Zhou, R. E. Kuc, J. Clarke, L. Happerfield, A. Marker, G. J. Hoffman, and M. J. Brown (2012)
J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 97, E819-E829
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Expression and Mutations of KCNJ5 mRNA in Japanese Patients with Aldosterone-Producing Adenomas.
R. Taguchi, M. Yamada, Y. Nakajima, T. Satoh, K. Hashimoto, N. Shibusawa, A. Ozawa, S. Okada, N. Rokutanda, D. Takata, et al. (2012)
J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 97, 1311-1319
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Somatic Mutations Affecting the Selectivity Filter of KCNJ5 Are Frequent in 2 Large Unselected Collections of Adrenal Aldosteronomas.
E. A. B. Azizan, M. Murthy, M. Stowasser, R. Gordon, B. Kowalski, S. Xu, M. J. Brown, and K. M. O'Shaughnessy (2012)
Hypertension 59, 587-591
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »

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