Risk of sepsis in patients with primary aldosteronism

The Mineralocorticoid Receptor in the Vasculature: Friend or Foe?

Originally described as the renal aldosterone receptor that regulates sodium homeostasis, it is now clear that mineralocorticoid receptors (MRs) are widely expressed, including in vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells. Ample data demonstrate that endothelial and smooth muscle cell MRs contribute to cardiovascular disease in response to risk factors (aging, obesity, hypertension, atherosclerosis) by inducing vasoconstriction, vascular remodeling, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Extrapolating from its role in disease, evidence supports beneficial roles of vascular MRs in the context of hypotension by promoting inflammation, wound healing, and vasoconstriction to enhance survival from bleeding or sepsis. Advances in understanding how vascular MRs become activated are also reviewed, describing transcriptional, ligand-dependent, and ligand-independent mechanisms. By synthesizing evidence describing how vascular MRs convert cardiovascular risk factors into disease (the vascular MR as a foe), we postulate that the teleological role of the MR is to coordinate responses to hypotension (the MR as a friend).

Assessing the cardiovascular events and clinical outcomes of COVID-19 on patients with primary aldosteronism

BACKGROUND

Primary Aldosteronism (PA) is a common subtype of hypertension that increases the risk of adverse cardiovascular and kidney events. The impact of COVID-19 on patients with PA is not well understood. This study aimed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on patients with PA and compare their outcomes with hypertensive patients with essential hypertension.

METHODS

A cohort study was conducted using data from the Trinetx platform, including 9,817,307 participants enrolled between January 1, 2020, and July 31, 2022. The study group consisted of participants who tested positive for PCR SARS-CoV-2. The primary outcome was critical care and all-cause mortality, while the secondary outcomes were major adverse cardiac events (MACE) or major adverse kidney events (MAKE). The study included 4814 patients with PA and 4814 hypertensive controls.

RESULTS

Patients with PA had a higher risk of critical outcomes than the hypertensive control group (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.14, p = 0.001). Moreover, they had higher risks of MACE (aHR 1.32, p < 0.001) and MAKE (aHR 1.36, p < 0.001) for up to 180 days after COVID-19. The analysis of the aHR as a horizon plot after discharge showed that patients with pre-existing PA and COVID-19 had the highest risk of critical outcomes at 7 months (aHR = 1.21), MACE (aHR = 1.35) at 9 months, and MAKE (aHR = 1.47) at 10 months compared to those with EH.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the cardiovascular impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals with PA. The findings underscore the increased risk of mortality, critical care, MACE, and MAKE among patients with PA and COVID-19. The study highlights the need for continued optimization of strategies for follow-up care for patients with PA after SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Mortality in Patients With Primary Aldosteronism: A Swedish Nationwide Study

BACKGROUND

Primary aldosteronism (PA) is associated with increased mortality. The extent to which this phenomenon is affected by sex, age, comorbidities at diagnosis, and different treatment modalities is largely unknown. The objective was to determine all-cause and cause-specific mortality in a population-based cohort of patients with PA and the impact of age at diagnosis, sex, comorbidities, and treatment modalities.

METHODS

We used national registers to identify patients diagnosed with PA between 1997 and 2019 (n=2419) and controls (n=24 187) from the general population, matched for sex, age, and county of residence. We obtained mortality data from the Cause-of-Death Register. We used Cox regression models, adjusted for socioeconomic factors and diabetes, to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs [95% CI]).

RESULTS

Overall, 346 (14.3%) patients with PA and 2736 (11.3%) controls died during a median follow-up time of 8.1 years. PA was associated with increased risk from all-cause mortality (HR, 1.23 [95% CI, 1.10-1.38]), death from cardiovascular disease (HR, 1.57 [95% CI, 1.30-1.89]), and stroke (HR, 1.85 [95% CI, 1.16-2.93]). Patients with cardiovascular disease at diagnosis (HR, 1.53 [1.26-1.85]), age >56 years (HR, 1.28 [95% CI, 1.13-1.45]), patients treated with a low dose of a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (HR, 1.30 [95% CI, 1.02-1.66]), and untreated patients (HR, 2.51 [95% CI, 1.72-3.67]) had excess mortality.

CONCLUSIONS

Mortality, mainly due to cardiovascular disease, is increased in patients with PA compared with controls from the general population, particularly in patients aged >56 years, patients with preexisting cardiovascular comorbidities, and patients receiving low dose of a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist.

Divergent Characteristics of T-Cell Receptor Repertoire Between Essential Hypertension and Aldosterone-Producing Adenoma

Aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA) is a benign adrenal tumor that results in persistent hyperaldosteronism. As one major subtype of primary aldosteronism, APA leads to secondary hypertension that is associated with immune dysregulation. However, how the adaptive immune system, particularly the T-cell population, is altered in APA patients remains largely unknown. Here, we performed TCR sequencing to characterize the TCR repertoire between two age-matched groups of patients: one with APA and the other one with essential hypertension (EH). Strikingly, we found a significant reduction of TCR repertoire diversity in the APA group. Analyses on TCR clustering and antigen annotation further showed that the APA group possessed lower diversity in TCR clonotypes with non-common antigen-specific features, compared with the EH group. In addition, our results indicated that the strength of correlation between generation probabilities and frequencies of TCR clonotypes was significantly higher in the APA group than that in the EH group. Finally, we observed that clinical features, including plasma aldosterone level, aldosterone–renin ratio, and blood sodium level, were positively associated with the strength of correlation between generation and abundance of TCR clonotypes in the APA group. Our findings unveiled the correlation between T-cell immune repertoire and APA, suggesting a critical role of such adrenal adenoma in the T-cell immunity of patients with hypertension.

Myeloid Mineralocorticoid Receptor Transcriptionally Regulates P-Selectin Glycoprotein Ligand-1 and Promotes Monocyte Trafficking and Atherosclerosis

Objective

MR (mineralocorticoid receptor) activation associates with increased risk of cardiovascular ischemia while MR inhibition reduces cardiovascular-related mortality and plaque inflammation in mouse atherosclerosis. MR in myeloid cells (My-MR) promotes inflammatory cell infiltration into injured tissues and atherosclerotic plaque inflammation by unclear mechanisms. Here, we examined the role of My-MR in leukocyte trafficking and the impact of sex.

Approach and Results

We confirm in vivo that My-MR deletion (My-MR-KO) in ApoE-KO mice decreased plaque size. Flow cytometry revealed fewer plaque macrophages with My-MR-KO. By intravital microscopy, My-MR-KO significantly attenuated monocyte slow-rolling and adhesion to mesenteric vessels and decreased peritoneal infiltration of myeloid cells in response to inflammatory stimuli in male but not female mice. My-MR-KO mice had significantly less PSGL1 (P-selectin glycoprotein ligand 1) mRNA in peritoneal macrophages and surface PSGL1 protein on circulating monocytes in males. In vitro, MR activation with aldosterone significantly increased PSGL1 mRNA only in monocytes from MR-intact males. Similarly, aldosterone induced, and MR antagonist spironolactone inhibited, PSGL1 expression in human U937 monocytes. Mechanistically, aldosterone stimulated MR binding to a predicted MR response element in intron-1 of the PSGL1 gene by ChIP-qPCR. Reporter assays demonstrated that this PSGL1 MR response element is necessary and sufficient for aldosterone-activated, MR-dependent transcriptional activity.

Conclusions

These data identify PSGL1 as a My-MR target gene that drives leukocyte trafficking to enhance atherosclerotic plaque inflammation. These novel and sexually dimorphic findings provide insight into increased ischemia risk with MR activation, cardiovascular protection in women, and the role of MR in atherosclerosis and tissue inflammation.

Evaluation of various confirmatory tests for the diagnosis of aldosterone-producing adenoma

Introduction:

Adrenal venous sampling is useful for discriminating unilateral and bilateral hypersecretion in patients with primary aldosteronism, but it is relatively invasive. To determine the site of hypersecretion more non-invasively, we evaluated predictors of unilateral hypersecretion.

Materials and methods:

We evaluated the baseline characteristics and the results of confirmatory tests of 123 patients with primary aldosteronism who underwent adrenal venous sampling.

Results:

Unilateral hypersecretion was identified in 22.0%. The plasma aldosterone concentration and aldosterone–renin ratio were significantly higher and serum potassium concentration and plasma renin activity were significantly lower in patients with unilateral hypersecretion. Plasma aldosterone concentrations after captopril challenge test, saline infusion test and rapid adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulation test were significantly higher among patients with unilateral hypersecretion. The plasma aldosterone concentration reduction ratio in saline infusion test and plasma aldosterone concentration elevation ratio during rapid adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulation test were significantly higher in patients with unilateral hypersecretion. However, areas under the curve for these parameters were not superior to the values after confirmatory tests.

Conclusions:

The plasma aldosterone concentration values after captopril challenge test, saline infusion test and rapid adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulation test were useful for identifying patients with unilateral hypersecretion. However, value changes or ratios during confirmatory tests are less useful for this aim.

Stratified risks of infection-related hospitalization in patients with chronic kidney disease - A prospective cohort study

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at high risk of infection, but whether the risks are attenuated in different patient groups remains unclear. This study enrolled participants with CKD stages 1-3 in the New Taipei City Health Screening Program between 2005 and 2008. A proportional hazard regression model was employed to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for infection-related hospitalization and mortality in younger (<50-year-old) and older (≥50-year-old) CKD patients. Of 119,871 adults, there were 14,207 cases of first hospitalization for infection during a median follow-up of 8.14 years; 45.5% of these cases were younger patients. Unlike CKD stage 1 and 2 patients, the risk of infection-related hospitalization in younger CKD stage 3 patients is as high as for older CKD stage 3 patients. Proteinuria increases the risk of infection-related hospitalization independent of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) levels in older CKD patients but this relationship is weak in their younger counterparts. In conclusion, the risk of infection-related hospitalization is high in subgroups of CKD patients. Prevention and treatment of infections in these patients merit more attention.

Influence of Different Treatment Strategies on New-Onset Atrial Fibrillation Among Patients With Primary Aldosteronism: A Nationwide Longitudinal Cohort-Based Study

Background Primary aldosteronism (PA) is associated with higher atrial fibrillation prevalence and other cardiovascular complications. However, the effect of target treatment to prevent new-onset atrial fibrillation (NOAF) remains unclear. This study investigated incidence of NOAF under different treatment strategies in patients with PA. Methods and Results We analyzed longitudinal data for patients with PA without atrial fibrillation history from 1997 to 2009 within the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. Patients with essential hypertension matched by propensity score were enrolled as controls. The primary outcome measurement was NOAF, and secondary outcome measurements were mortality, major cardiac and cardiac/cerebrovascular events, and a combined end point of NOAF and mortality. We identified 2202 patients with PA (534 adrenalectomy, 1668 mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist [MRA] therapy) and 8808 essential hypertension controls with mean follow-up of 4.4 years. In primary outcome measurement, patients with PA who underwent adrenalectomy had a lower incidence of NOAF (adjusted hazard ratio; 0.28, P=0.011) than controls. In contrast, the patients with PA who received MRA therapy had comparable risk of NOAF (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.20; P=0.224). In secondary outcome measurement, patients with PA who underwent adrenalectomy had a lower rate of mortality and combined end point of NOAF and mortality than controls. Patients with PA who received MRA therapy had a higher risk of mortality, major cardiac and cardiac/cerebrovascular events, and combined NOAF with mortality than the essential hypertension controls. Conclusions Compared with patients with essential hypertension, patients with PA who underwent adrenalectomy had a lower incidence of NOAF. However, this finding was not observed in patients with PA who received MRA therapy with a lower dose. Differences between the 2 strategies may reduce with a higher dose of MRA therapy.

Long-Term Mortality for Patients of Primary Aldosteronism Compared With Essential Hypertension: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Consistent evidence have demonstrated that patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) have higher risk of cardiovascular events to patients with essential hypertension (EH). Whether the long-term risk of mortality for PA patients is higher than EH patients is unclear. We aim to compare the long-term mortality of patients with PA to patients with EH. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials for eligible studies from inception to 14 Nov 2018. We combined the relative risks (RR) of each included study by random-effect model. The amount of between study heterogeneity was measured by the I² statistic. Results: We totally included six studies with cohort design, including 3,039 PA and 45,495 EH patients. The pooled RRs for patients with PA were 1.97 (95%CI: 1.33, 2.91; P = 0.0007) for a follow-up of 3 years, 0.96 (95%CI: 0.75, 1.23; P = 0.76) for 5 years, 0.86 (95%CI: 0.51, 1.46) for 7.5 years, and 0.95 (95%CI: 0.61, 1.48; P = 0.58) for 10 years. For patients with aldosterone-producing adenomas (APA), evidence of lower risk of long-term mortality was observed. Our sensitivity analysis suggested our results were stable. Conclusions: Current evidence supported a higher risk of mortality for patients with primary aldosteronism at 3 years compared to patients with essential hypertension, however this risk no longer sustains as the follow-up time increased to 5 or more years. Patients with aldosterone-producing adenomas may have lower long-term mortality rate than patients with essential hypertension due to the better recovery of adrenalectomy.