ACE2: The Coronavirus Gateway

Are you one of the many people who take ACE inhibitors or ARBs to treat high blood pressure? Or to help with heart issues or diabetes? In the UK, this is about one in seven people, making these are some of the most common prescription drugs out there; and recently there have been worries that they might make a coronavirus infection worse. The link between the drugs and the virus is a molecule inside everyone's bodies called ACE2. On today's show, meet ACE2, the protein in the spotlight: the bastion of our defenses, that's become the very breach in our walls. Protector, turned betrayer... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists