ACE2 and type 2 diabetes mellitus: Of note, T2D patients were shown to have significantly lower expression of the canonical SARS-CoV-2 receptor, angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) (Reich et al., 2008; Chen et al., 2020) and they are often treated with ACE inhibitors and angiotensin II type-I receptor blockers, which upregulate ACE2 expression for its protective effects on the pancreas (Carlsson et al., 1998; Batlle et al., 2010).