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Regulation of Aldosterone Secretion by Several Aberrant Receptors Including for Glucose-Dependent Insulinotropic Peptide in a Patient with an Aldosteronoma

Division of Endocrinology (A.L., I.B., S.O., A.G., P.H., A.L.), Department of Medicine, Division of Urology (P.A.), Department of Surgery, and Department of Pathology (W.S.), Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada H2W 1T8

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. André Lacroix, Department of Medicine, Hôtel-Dieu du CHUM, 3840 Rue Saint-Urbain, Montréal, Québec, Canada H2W 1T8. E-mail: andre.lacroix{at}umontreal.ca.

Context: Primary adrenal Cushing’s syndrome can result from the aberrant adrenal expression of several hormone receptors; this mechanism has not been explored in detail in aldosterone-producing tumors.

Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate a 56-yr-old male patient with an aldosteronoma for the regulation of aldosterone secretion by aberrant hormone receptors.

Results: Renin-independent stimulation of aldosterone secretion was observed in vivo after a mixed meal, oral glucose, or administration of glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP), vasopressin, and tegaserod. The mixed meal-mediated stimulation of aldosterone was not present in five other cases of aldosteronoma. A smaller response of aldosterone after GIP infusion was observed in a normal subject. Aldosterone secretion was stimulated by GIP in primary cultures of this patient’s aldosteronoma. Increased expression of GIP receptor was found in this aldosteronoma by real-time RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. The GIP receptor protein was also found at lower levels in zona glomerulosa cells of the normal adjacent adrenal gland. Increased expression of serotonin 4 and ACTH receptors was also present in this aldosteronoma.

Conclusions: This case report provides new evidence of the implication of aberrant hormone receptors in the regulation of this aldosteronoma and suggests that further detailed studies of the role of aberrant hormone receptors in this frequent pathology should be undertaken.

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