id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cord-255474-7fq9culd	Alifano, Marco	Renin-angiotensin system at the heart of COVID-19 pandemic	2020-04-16		.txt	text/plain	2599	124	38	We decided to use the analogy of a play and speculate about the possible impact in this tragedy of 1) air pollution via the interference of nitrogen dioxide on ACE2 expression; 2) the dual role of nicotine; 3) the hypothetical involvement of ACE2 polymorphisms, the relationships of which with ethnic factors and susceptibility to cardiovascular disease seems intriguing; 4) the impact on the severity of infection of hypertension and related medications acting on the renin/angiotensin system, and, finally, 5) the possible helpful role of chloroquine, thanks to its capacity of modifying ACE2 affinity to the viral spike protein by altering glycosylation. 6 Although concurrent cardiovascular disease might explain increased mortality in a severe infection responsible for respiratory failure and deterioration of cardiac function, the observations on hypertension warrant urgent speculation and reflection, while waiting for results of large-scale studies evaluating the independent value of each risk factor.	./cache/cord-255474-7fq9culd.txt	./txt/cord-255474-7fq9culd.txt