Regulation of aldosterone secretion by Cav1.3.

Aldosterone-producing adenomas (APAs) vary in phenotype and genotype. Zona glomerulosa (ZG)-like APAs frequently have mutations of an L-type calcium channel (LTCC) CaV1.3.

Pregnancy, Primary Aldosteronism, and Adrenal CTNNB1 Mutations.

Recent discoveries of somatic mutations permit the recognition of subtypes of aldosterone-producing adenomas with distinct clinical presentations and pathological features. Here we describe three women with hyperaldosteronism, two who presented in pregnancy and one who presented after menopause. Their aldosterone-producing adenomas harbored activating mutations of CTNNB1, encoding β-catenin in the Wnt cell-differentiation pathway, and expressed LHCGR and GNRHR, encoding gonadal receptors, at levels that were more than 100 times as high as the levels in other aldosterone-producing adenomas.

Role of ANO4 in regulation of aldosterone secretion in the zona glomerulosa of the human adrenal gland.

Background: Cell origin of aldosterone-producing adenomas, a major cause of hypertension, is unknown. A less common subtype of these adenomas, composed of cells resembling zona glomerulosa, have mutations in genes ATP1A1 and CACNA1D. To understand whether the adenomas originate from zona glomerulosa, we carried out a microarray analysis comparing transcriptomes of zona glomerulosa, zona fasciculata, and tumour in human adrenal tissue, and investigated the functional role of genes upregulated in the zona glomerulosa.

LGR5 Activates Noncanonical Wnt Signaling and Inhibits Aldosterone Production in the Human Adrenal.

Context: Aldosterone synthesis and cellularity in the human adrenal zona glomerulosa (ZG) is sparse and patchy, presumably due to salt excess. The frequency of somatic mutations causing aldosterone-producing adenomas (APAs) may be a consequence of protection from cell loss by constitutive aldosterone production.

Objective: The objective of the study was to delineate a process in human ZG, which may regulate both aldosterone production and cell turnover.

DACH1, a zona glomerulosa selective gene in the human adrenal, activates transforming growth factor-β signaling and suppresses aldosterone secretion.

Common somatic mutations in CACNAID and ATP1A1 may define a subgroup of smaller, zona glomerulosa (ZG)-like aldosterone-producing adenomas. We have therefore sought signature ZG genes, which may provide insight into the frequency and pathogenesis of ZG-like aldosterone-producing adenomas. Twenty-one pairs of zona fasciculata and ZG and 14 paired aldosterone-producing adenomas from 14 patients with Conn's syndrome and 7 patients with pheochromocytoma were assayed by the Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.

Somatic mutations in ATP1A1 and CACNA1D underlie a common subtype of adrenal hypertension.

At least 5% of individuals with hypertension have adrenal aldosterone-producing adenomas (APAs). Gain-of-function mutations in KCNJ5 and apparent loss-of-function mutations in ATP1A1 and ATP2A3 were reported to occur in APAs. We find that KCNJ5 mutations are common in APAs resembling cortisol-secreting cells of the adrenal zona fasciculata but are absent in a subset of APAs resembling the aldosterone-secreting cells of the adrenal zona glomerulosa.

The novel atherosclerosis locus at 10q11 regulates plasma CXCL12 levels.

Aims: Two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs1746048 and rs501120, from genome wide association studies of coronary artery disease (CAD) map to chromosome 10q11 ∼80 kb downstream of chemokine CXCL12. Therefore, we examined the relationship between these two SNPs and plasma CXCL12 levels.

Methods And Results: We tested the association of two SNPs with plasma CXCL12 levels in a two-stage study (n= 2939): first in PennCath (n= 1182), a Caucasian, angiographic CAD case-control study, and second in PennCAC (n= 1757), a community-based study of CAD risk factors.