New Discoveries and Honors in Cancer Research

Read the latest cancer research and recognition from the members of the Damon Runyon scientific circle.
February 11, 2011
Novel gene implicated in adrenal tumors and severe hypertension

Tobias J.E. Carling, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Doris Duke Clinical Investigator ‘10-‘13) and colleagues at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, identified novel genetic mutations that can give rise to tumors of the hormone-producing adrenal gland (aldosterone-producing adrenal adenoma) and severe hypertension (high blood pressure). By sequencing the genes from these tumors and comparing them to normal DNA, the researchers identified mutations in a potassium channel gene, KCNJ5. In addition to causing these tumors, they also found that inherited mutations in KCNJ5 cause a rare familial form of severe hypertension. These findings were published in the journal Science.