In every twenty folks with high blood pressure, one of them carries a tiny harmless lump.
This little lump makes a hormone, aldosterone, that decides how much salt stays in our bodies.
Researchers found that some of these lumps have a special gene that causes them to make way too much aldosterone, but only sometimes.
Why is this Gene Tricky for Doctors?
This sneaky gene messes with a protein named CADM1. This protein helps cells in our bodies talk to each other about when to stop making aldosterone.
But when this gene interferes, the cells don’t get the message and keep producing the hormone. This results in our bodies getting too much salt and making our blood pressure shoot up.
This hormone is a tricky thing. It keeps coming and going throughout the day. This is why it’s hard for doctors to catch it in the act unless they check your blood multiple times a day.
Can it be Fixed?
Good news! Researchers have found a fix. This type of high blood pressure can be healed by taking out one of our two adrenal glands.
After taking out the gland, people with really bad high blood pressure, even after taking a lot of medicines, got better. They didn’t need any more treatment for many years after.
Finding the Hidden Cause
But there’s a catch. This cause of high blood pressure is often missed. Less than 1% of folks with high blood pressure caused by too much aldosterone are correctly diagnosed.
This is because doctors don’t often measure aldosterone levels when checking for the reasons behind high blood pressure.
To catch this sneaky culprit, researchers recommend doing a day-long urine test to measure aldosterone, instead of just a one-time blood test.
This could help find more people who have high blood pressure but don’t know the real reason behind it.
How was it Discovered?
The first patient with this special gene was found by accident. The patient’s hormone levels were jumping up and down during a trial for high blood pressure treatment, which caught the doctors’ attention.
High Blood Pressure – A Mystery Mostly
Most people with high blood pressure don’t know why they have it. They have to take medicines for their whole lives to keep it under control.
Past studies by this same research group found that for 5-10% of people with high blood pressure, it’s because a gene in their adrenal glands is acting up, causing too much aldosterone, and hence too much salt in the body, which drives up the blood pressure.
What Does This Mean for the Future?
Professor Morris Brown, one of the head researchers and a professor at Queen Mary University of London, talked about the power of science and medicine working together.
He mentioned that they are now looking at whether they can just burn off the tiny lump instead of taking out the whole adrenal gland.
This research, done at Queen Mary University, was helped by Barts Charity and many research groups.
They worked together with labs in Munich, Paris, Michigan, Osakasayama, KL, Malaysia, and Pittsburgh to find more people with the new gene and better understand its effects.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies about unhealthy habits that could increase high blood pressure risk, and people with severe high blood pressure should reduce coffee intake.
For more information about blood pressure, please see recent studies that early time-restricted eating could help improve blood pressure, and results showing plant-based foods could benefit people with high blood pressure.
The study was published in Nature Genetics.
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