ACE2 and hypertensive disorder: Moreover, there is no definitive evidence to confirm that hypertension is associated with increased expression of ACE2 and whether this expression might contribute to poor outcomes in patients with COVID-19.[25,26] At the same time, a study did report that ACEI did not inhibit ACE2, making the harmful effect of hypertension unlikely.[27] Although ARBs have been reported to upregulate ACE2 in animal models,[28,29] it is unclear whether these findings could translate into clinical conditions (such as patients with COVID-19).