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SECRETARIAT RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

FACULTY OF MEDICINE

Molecular Insights to Primary Aldosteronism

RESEARCH INTERESTS

The research group of “Molecular Insights to Primary Aldosteronism” consists of a basic scientist and clinical endocrinologists, radiologists, and endocrine surgeons interested in the most common curable form of hypertension, Primary Aldosteronism. Hypertension is a silent killer, affecting 1.3 billion adults worldwide, though less than half are diagnosed and treated. The research of this group has in the past mainly focused on the somatic mutations that can cause unilateral aldosterone-producing adenoma, a surgically curable cause of primary aldosteronism. The interest was especially on the genotype and phenotype relationships as this could help increase the diagnostic rate which is currently estimated to be less than <1%; i.e. 99% of patients with this curable cause of hypertension are not diagnosed and thus inappropriately treated. This is mainly due to the current gold standard of diagnosing this disease is a highly invasive radiological method, adrenal vein sampling, that has a success rate that is dependent on the experience and skill of the radiologist. Thus biomarkers for complete cure of hypertension, both genetics and proteomics, are now being studied in addition to elucidating the mechanism and pathways that regulates zona glomerulosa cell fate, the adrenal zone that physiologically produces aldosterone. The group has a strong international research collaboration ensuring the findings of the research is not only relevant for the Malaysian population, but also replicable in other cohorts. In the future, we hope the research would help to find novel targets to treat hypertension of not only patients with an aldosterone-producing adenoma, but also so called “essential hypertensive” patients, as even non-diseased adrenals are shown to have minute (<2mm) autonomous aldosterone-producing cell clusters (APCC) that cannot be detected by CT-scan.

 

MEMBERS OF RESEARCH GROUP

No.NameEmailUKM SarjanaGoogle ScholarScopus
1Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elena Aisha Azizan (Group Leader)elena.azizan@ukm.edu.myUKMGoogle ScholarScopus
2Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nani Harlina Binti Md. Latarnaniharlinalatar@ukm.edu.myUKMGoogle ScholarScopus
3Prof. Dr. Rohaizak Bin Muhammadrohaizak@ukm.edu.myUKMGoogle ScholarScopus
4Assoc. Prof. Dr. Norasyikin Binti A. Wahab @ A. Rahmannorasyikinawahab@ukm.edu.myUKMGoogle ScholarScopus
5Prof. Dr. Norlela Binti Sukordrlela@ppukm.ukm.edu.myUKMGoogle ScholarScopus
6Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rozman Bin Zakariarozman@ppukm.ukm.edu.myUKMGoogle ScholarScopus
7Assoc Prof. Dr. Nor Azian Abdul Muradnor_azian@ppukm.ukm.edu.myUKMGoogle ScholarScopus
8Dr. Mun-Kit Choy  Google ScholarScopus
9Prof. Michael Stowasser  Google ScholarScopus
10Prof. Morris Brown  Google ScholarScopus
11Dr. Azraai Bahari Bin Nasruddin  Google ScholarScopus
12Dr. Nor Azmi Kamaruddin  Google ScholarScopus
13Prof. Datuk Dr. A. Rahman A. Jamalrahmanj@ppukm.ukm.edu.myUKMGoogle ScholarScopus
14Assoc. Prof. Dr. Miroslav Solar  Google ScholarScopus

 

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

1Somatic mutations of GNA11 and GNAQ in CTNNB1-mutant aldosterone-producing adenomas presenting in puberty, pregnancy or menopauseJunhua Zhou, Elena AB Azizan, Claudia P Cabrera, Fabio L Fernandes-Rosa, Sheerazed Boulkroun, Giulia Argentesi, Emily Cottrell, Laurence Amar, Xilin Wu, Sam O’Toole, Emily Goodchild, Alison Marker, Russell Senanayake, Sumedha Garg, Tobias Åkerström, Samuel Backman, Suzanne Jordan, Satyamaanasa Polubothu, Daniel M Berney, Anna Gluck, Kate E Lines, Rajesh V Thakker, Antoinette Tuthill, Caroline Joyce, Juan Pablo Kaski, Fiona E Karet Frankl, Lou A Metherell, Ada ED Teo, Mark Gurnell, Laila Parvanta, William M Drake, Eva Wozniak, David Klinzing, Jyn Ling Kuan, Zenia Tiang, Celso E Gomez Sanchez, Per Hellman, Roger SY Foo, Charles A Mein, Veronica A Kinsler, Peyman Björklund, Helen L Storr, Maria-Christina Zennaro, Morris J BrownNature genetics 53 (9), 1360-1372 (2021)
2Functional Characteristic and Significance of Aldosterone-Producing Cell Clusters in Primary Aldosteronism and Age-Related HypertensionFatin Athirah Pauzi, Elena Aisha AzizanFrontiers in Endocrinology 12, 132 (2021)
3Somatic Mutations in Primary Aldosteronism-The Most Common Cause for Secondary HypertensionSiti Khadijah Syed Mohammed Nazri, Elena AzizanMalaysian Journal of Human Genetics 2 (02), 13-24 (2021)
4EFFECT OF SILENCING ALDOSTERONE SYNTHASE ON CELL APOPTOSIS IN HAC15 HUMAN ADRENOCORTICAL CELLSKha Chin Long, Norlela Sukor, Nor Azmi Kamaruddin, Geok Chin Tan, A Rahman A Jamal, Nor Azian Abdul Murad, Morris Jonathan Brown, Elena Aisha AzizanJournal of the ASEAN Federation of Endocrine Societies 36, 11-11 (2021)
5RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF ADRENAL VEIN SAMPLING (AVS) SUCCESSSK Syed Mohammed Nazri, R Zakaria, N Sukor, EA AzizanJournal of the ASEAN Federation of Endocrine Societies 36, 37-37 (2021)
6Associations between primary aldosteronism and diabetes, poor bone health, and sleep apnea—what do we know so far?Huai Heng Loh, Norlela SukorJournal of human hypertension 34 (1), 5-15 (2020)
7The effect of vitamin D treatment on clinical and biochemical outcomes of primary aldosteronismNoor Ashikin Ismail, Nor Azmi Kamaruddin, Shamsul Azhar Shah, Norlela SukorClinical endocrinology 92 (6), 509-517 (2020)
8Association of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms of CYP11B2, CYP11B1 and CYP17A1 with Primary Aldosteronism in a Multi-Ethnic Malaysian CohortAfifah Azam, Mohammad Arif Shahar, Siti Liyana Saud Gany, Norlela Sukor, Nor Azmi Kamaruddin, Scott Mackay MacKenzie, Elena Aisha AzizanJournal of the Endocrine Society 4 (Supplement_1), SUN-711 (2020)
9A Pilot Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) on Primary Aldosteronism Patients in a Multi-Ethnic Malaysian CohortElena AB Azizan, Mohammad Arif Shahar, Siti Liyana Saud Ghany, A Rahman A Jamal, Nor Azmi Kamaruddin, Norasyikin A Wahab, Ahmad Marzuki Omar, Chin Voon Tong, Azraai Nasruddin, Norlela Sukor, Morris Jonathan Brown, Syahirah Kaja MohideenJournal of the Endocrine Society 4 (Supplement_1), MON-LB129 (2020)
10High Salt Intake May Paradoxically Drive Autonomous Aldosterone ProductionElena Aisha Azizan, Kha Chin Long, Norlela Sukor, Ruhaya Salleh, Fatimah Othman, Thamil Arasu Saminathan, Xilin Wu, Junhua Zhou, Feng Jun He, Graham Mac Gregor, Morris Jonathan BrownJournal of the Endocrine Society 4 (Supplement_1), SUN-220 (2020)