Six patients carrying heterozygous loss-of-function mutations of glucocorticoid (GC) receptor (GR) presented with hypercortisolism, associated with low kalemia, low plasma renin, and aldosterone levels, with or without hypertension, suggesting a pseudohypermineralocorticism whose mechanisms remain unclear.
The objective of the present study was to investigate in vitro the effect of serotonin (5-hydroxy tryptamine; 5-HT) on cortisol and renin production by a left adrenocortical carcinoma removed from a 48-year-old female patient with severe Cushing's syndrome and elevated plasma renin levels.
The relation between serum cortisol, plasma renin activity, angiotensin II (Ang II), or aldosterone levels and peripheral blood cell (mononuclear leukocytes and platelets) angiotensin II type 1A (AT1A) and 1B (AT1B) receptor mRNA levels was examined in both patients with Cushing's syndrome (seven patients with Cushing's syndrome due to unilateral adrenal cortical adenoma) and control subjects (seven normotensive patients with renal cell carcinoma).