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Review
. 2020 Jul:168:105996.
doi: 10.1016/j.rmed.2020.105996. Epub 2020 Apr 25.

Severe respiratory SARS-CoV2 infection: Does ACE2 receptor matter?

Fabio Perrotta  1 , Maria Gabriella Matera  2 , Mario Cazzola  3 , Andrea Bianco  4
Affiliations
Review

Severe respiratory SARS-CoV2 infection: Does ACE2 receptor matter?

Fabio Perrotta et al. Respir Med. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 is a novel virus of the Coronaviridiae family that represents a major global health issue. Mechanisms implicated in virus/host cells interaction are central for cell infection and replication that in turn lead to disease onset and local damage. To enter airway and lung epithelia, SARS-CoV-2 attaches to ACE2 receptors by spike (S) glycoproteins. Molecular mechanisms that promote interaction between SARS-CoV-2 virus and host with particular focus on virus cell entry receptor ACE2 are described. We further explore the impact of underlying medical conditions and therapies including renin-angiotensin inhibitors on modulating ACE 2, which is the major SARS-CoV-2 cell entry receptor.

Keywords: ACE inhibitors; ACE2 receptor; Renin-angiotensin inhibitors; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Postulated mechanisms modulating SARS-CoV-2 attachment and fusion machinery on human host cells.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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