Breakthrough: Cause and Cure Found for High Blood Pressure.
Researchers at Queen Mary University of London and Barts Hospital have identified a gene variant that causes a common type of hypertension and a way to cure it. The cause is a tiny benign nodule, present in one-in-twenty people with hypertension, that produces a hormone called aldosterone. The gene variant affects a protein called CADM1 and leads to a vast, but intermittent, over-production of the hormone. This form of hypertension could be cured by unilateral adrenalectomy. The researchers recommend measuring aldosterone through a 24-hour urine test to discover more people living with undiagnosed hypertension.
