A study of the effect of ghrelin on apoptosis in rat osteoblasts and various other primary cells of rat and human, as well as in human aldosteronoma and human adrenocortical carcinoma-derived cell lines, showed that ghrelin did not affect apoptotic rate of normal cells, but significantly enhanced apoptosis in tumor-derived cells [26]. The gene discussed is GHRL; the disease is adrenal cortex carcinoma.