30 percent of adults suffer from hypertension (high blood pressure). The majority of cases are caused by a combination of inherited and acquired factors that require long-term treatment to avoid stroke and heart attack complications.

One in every ten people with hypertension has a specific cause that can be identified and eliminated.

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The most frequently encountered cause is a small benign nodule in one of the adrenal glands. These are steroid hormone-producing glands located near the kidneys.

Aldosterone causes the kidneys to retain salt, thereby increasing blood pressure. As a result, primary aldosteronism typically results in a type of hypertension that is resistant to conventional medications and is associated with an increased risk of stroke and heart attack compared to other hypertensive patients.

A research team at Queen Mary University of London and St Bartholomew’s Hospital has identified a number of gene variants that result in the production of excessive amounts of aldosterone from small adrenal nodules over the years.

Their most recent study, published today in the journal Nature Genetics, describes the discovery of a novel type of primary aldosteronism caused by the occurrence of a rare pair of novel variants.

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Patients are predominantly female and present with sudden onset of hypertension and hypokalemia during the early months of pregnancy.

According to their study, the new variants activate a receptor molecule in the adrenal cells that recognizes the pregnancy hormone Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) – the same molecule that is detected during routine pregnancy testing – and that the receptor molecule induces an increase in aldosterone production.

Professor Morris Brown, Professor of Endocrine Hypertension at Queen Mary University of London stated:

“What was particularly satisfying is that recognition of the cause of hypertension in these women enabled them to complete a successful pregnancy, and that afterwards they were completely cured of hypertension by a procedure to remove the adrenal nodule, and were able to stop all their drugs.”

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