ACE2 and COVID-19: As infection produces a down-regulation of ACE2, this may contribute to the hypertension and inflammation seen with COVID19, as the vasodilator Ang(1-7) is decreased (Povlsen et al., 2020; Samavati and Uhal, 2020), and has led to the suggestion that exogenous ACE2 could be therapeutic (Verdecchia et al., 2020).