Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comment
. 2020 Jun:156:104832.
doi: 10.1016/j.phrs.2020.104832. Epub 2020 Apr 15.

Angiotensin receptor blockers and COVID-19

Affiliations
Comment

Angiotensin receptor blockers and COVID-19

Juan M Saavedra. Pharmacol Res. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARBs) exhibit major pleiotropic protecting effects beyond their antihypertensive properties, including reduction of inflammation. ARBs directly protect the lung from the severe acute respiratory syndrome as a result of viral infections, including those from coronavirus. The protective effect of ACE2 is enhanced by ARB administration. For these reasons ARB therapy must be continued for patients affected by hypertension, diabetes and renal disease, comorbidities of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Controlled clinical studies should be conducted to determine whether ARBs may be included as additional therapy for COVID-19 patients.

Keywords: ACE2; Angiotensin receptor blockers; COVID-19; Coronavirus; SARS-CoV-2.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The author has no conflict of interest to declare with respect to this manuscript.

Comment on

References

    1. Fang L., Karakiulakis G., Roth M. Are patients with hypertension and diabetes mellitus at increased risk for COVID-19 infection? Lancet Respir. Med. 2020;(March (11)) doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30116-8. [Online ahead of print] - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Diaz J.H. Hypothesis: angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers may increase the risk of severe COVID-19. J. Travel Med. 2020;(March (18)) doi: 10.1093/jtm/taaa041. (Online ahead of print) - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jia H. Pulmonary angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and inflammatory lung disease. Shock. 2016;46:239–248. doi: 10.1097/SHK.0000000000000633. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gurwitz D. Angiotensin receptor blockers as tentative SARS-CoV-2 therapeutics. Drug Dev. Res. 2020;(March (4)) doi: 10.1002/ddr.21656. (Online ahead of print) - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fedson D.S. Treating the host response to emerging virus diseases: lessons learned from sepsis, pneumonia, influenza and ebola. Am. Transl. Med. 2016;4:421. doi: 10.21037/atm.2016.11.03. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Substances