Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2-at the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gavin Y Oudit, Kaiming Wang, Anissa Viveiros, Max J Kellner, Josef M Penninger

Journal: Cell 2023;186(5):906-922

PMID: 36787743

Free Full Text on Elsevier Science View on PubMed

Abstract

ACE2 is the indispensable entry receptor for SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become one of the most therapeutically targeted human molecules in biomedicine. ACE2 serves two fundamental physiological roles: as an enzyme, it alters peptide cascade balance; as a chaperone, it controls intestinal amino acid uptake. ACE2's tissue distribution, affected by co-morbidities and sex, explains the broad tropism of coronaviruses and the clinical manifestations of SARS and COVID-19. ACE2-based therapeutics provide a universal strategy to prevent and treat SARS-CoV-2 infections, applicable to all SARS-CoV-2 variants and other emerging zoonotic coronaviruses exploiting ACE2 as their cellular receptor.

Address: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada; Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. Electronic address: [email protected].; Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada; Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.; Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Science, Vienna, Austria.; Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Science, Vienna, Austria; Department of Medical Genetics, Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Electronic address: [email protected].

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.01.039

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Medical:

https://medlineplus.gov/covid19coronavirusdisease2...

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https://assays.cancer.gov/CPTAC-438

MeSH Terms: Humans, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2, Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A, Pandemics, Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus