ACE2 and infection: Insomuch its aetiological agent, SARS-CoV-2, was considered to be an exclusive airborne pathogen with a preferential tropism for the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)-positive epithelial cells of the pulmonary alveoli (Devaux et al., 2020; Huang et al., 2020; Yan et al., 2020; Zhu et al, 2020), other routes of infection (e.g., oral route) and tropism for other tissues (e.g., intestinal epithelium) received less attention, despite growing importance in the pathophysiology of COVID-19 (Lamers et al., 2020; Xiao et al., 2020a; Devaux et al., 2021).