Abstract
COVID-19 has been the biggest global health threat since world war II.
Up to now, the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic has resulted in over
300 thousand deaths. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the
receptor of SARS-CoV-2, is also the key modulator of
renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) axes, which regulates the
inflammatory response to maintain internal environment balance. On the
contrary, RAAS axes can also regulate the expression of ACE2 which may
influence on the susceptibility of SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, SARS-CoV-2
binds with ACE2 and subsequently down-regulates ACE2 expression, which
may exacerbate the inflammatory response due to RAAS imbalance. In this
review, we summarized pathogenesis and clinical characteristics of
COVID-19 patients, and discussed the potential link between the RAAS
axes imbalance and the susceptibility/progression of organ injury in
COVID-19. Therefore, we speculate that rebalance of the RAAS axes is the
preventive and therapeutic strategy of COVID-19.