3.1.2 Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)
Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is a type I membrane zinc
metalloprotease mainly expressed in lung alveolar epithelial cells,
enterocytes of the small intestine and arterial cells. ACE2 is able to
hydrolyze angiotensin I to produce angiotensin (1–9) (Donoghue et al.,
2000). The enzyme was known for its function as the virus receptor of
SARS-CoV (Kuba et al., 2005) which was proved as the cellular receptor
of 2019-nCov by Zhou et al (Zhou et al., 2020). Blocking the entrance of
2019-nCoV through this protein intervention seems to be a possible
target for antiviral drug discovery.