Absence of somatic mutations in natriuretic peptide receptor type A gene in human aldosterone-secreting adenomas.

Somatic mutations of genes codifying for key regulatory proteins are the cause of different types of hormone-secreting adenomas. Natriuretic peptides (NP) are the strongest inhibitors of aldosterone secretion but aldosterone-secreting adenomas (aldosteronomas) are resistant to this inhibition and have reduced binding sites for NPs. The objective of this study was to sequence the entire coding region of the NP receptor type A (NPRA, codified by the Npr1 gene) to find loss-of-function somatic mutations.