3.1.2 Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)
Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is a type I membrane zinc metalloprotease mainly expressed in lung alveolar epithelial cells, enterocytes of the small intestine and arterial cells. ACE2 is able to hydrolyze angiotensin I to produce angiotensin (1–9) (Donoghue et al., 2000). The enzyme was known for its function as the virus receptor of SARS-CoV (Kuba et al., 2005) which was proved as the cellular receptor of 2019-nCov by Zhou et al (Zhou et al., 2020). Blocking the entrance of 2019-nCoV through this protein intervention seems to be a possible target for antiviral drug discovery.