More than a third of the adult population worldwide has hypertension, a key risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and death. Although the majority of hypertension cases are idiopathic, approximately one in six hypertensive patients have secondary hypertension whereby an identifiable condition has led to raised blood pressure. Of these, 2-3% are estimated to have so-called endocrine hypertension due to an imbalance of hormone production in the adrenal. Diagnosis of adrenal-related endocrine hypertension is favourable as surgery and specific medical treatment are available. Despite the knowledge on adrenal-related endocrine hypertension, less than 1% of patients are currently diagnosed and only a handful of patients are completely cured by adrenalectomy surgery. Additionally, although many mutations have been found to be causal for adrenal-related endocrine hypertension (e.g. KCNJ5 mutations for primary aldosteronism, SDHB mutations for phaeochromocytoma, and ARMC5 mutations in Macronodular Adrenal Hyperplasia), the mechanisms involved are still not fully explained, and there are still adrenal lesions causing endocrine hypertension where the genetic caused is still undefined
Comprehension of the clinical presentation and molecular mechanism is essential not only to improve diagnosis rate of a potentially curable disease but also to discover novel drug targets which could help treat idiopathic hypertension. The role of adrenal hormone production has been highlighted by genome wide association studies on idiopathic hypertension which found CYP17A1, a gene highly expressed in the adrenal that is involved with adrenal hormone production, to be implicated in blood pressure.
We therefore invite authors to contribute original research articles and review articles that will encourage the progressing efforts to understand the clinical presentations and molecular mechanisms underlying adrenal-related endocrine hypertension.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Genotype-phenotype relationships in adrenal-related endocrine hypertension diseases;
- Novel mutation causing adrenal-related endocrine hypertension diseases;
- Local prevalence of blood pressure regulating variants;
- Interesting clinical cases on difficult to diagnose adrenal-related endocrine hypertension disease.
More than a third of the adult population worldwide has hypertension, a key risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and death. Although the majority of hypertension cases are idiopathic, approximately one in six hypertensive patients have secondary hypertension whereby an identifiable condition has led to raised blood pressure. Of these, 2-3% are estimated to have so-called endocrine hypertension due to an imbalance of hormone production in the adrenal. Diagnosis of adrenal-related endocrine hypertension is favourable as surgery and specific medical treatment are available. Despite the knowledge on adrenal-related endocrine hypertension, less than 1% of patients are currently diagnosed and only a handful of patients are completely cured by adrenalectomy surgery. Additionally, although many mutations have been found to be causal for adrenal-related endocrine hypertension (e.g. KCNJ5 mutations for primary aldosteronism, SDHB mutations for phaeochromocytoma, and ARMC5 mutations in Macronodular Adrenal Hyperplasia), the mechanisms involved are still not fully explained, and there are still adrenal lesions causing endocrine hypertension where the genetic caused is still undefined
Comprehension of the clinical presentation and molecular mechanism is essential not only to improve diagnosis rate of a potentially curable disease but also to discover novel drug targets which could help treat idiopathic hypertension. The role of adrenal hormone production has been highlighted by genome wide association studies on idiopathic hypertension which found CYP17A1, a gene highly expressed in the adrenal that is involved with adrenal hormone production, to be implicated in blood pressure.
We therefore invite authors to contribute original research articles and review articles that will encourage the progressing efforts to understand the clinical presentations and molecular mechanisms underlying adrenal-related endocrine hypertension.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Genotype-phenotype relationships in adrenal-related endocrine hypertension diseases;
- Novel mutation causing adrenal-related endocrine hypertension diseases;
- Local prevalence of blood pressure regulating variants;
- Interesting clinical cases on difficult to diagnose adrenal-related endocrine hypertension disease.