The prevention of viral infection by soluble Env proteins may lead to the consideration of next-generation therapeutic strategies for infectious diseases, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections, as soluble angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 decoys are highly effective in blocking infection of all variants of SARS-CoV-2 (59, 60). This evidence concerns the gene ACE2 and infectious disease.