Circulating plasma angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 concentrations in patients with kidney disease

Sama et al. have recently reported that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE-I) and angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) usage was not associated with higher levels of plasma angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in two cohorts of patients with heart failure. Membrane-bound ACE2 is the receptor for severe acuteACE2 is also expressed in kidney tubules and may account for the finding that COVID-19 infection carries a high risk of acute kidney injury. To extend the observations of Sama et al. to kidney disease, we measured levels of plasma ACE2 in the Boston Kidney Biopsy Cohort, a prospective cohort study of patients undergoing native kidney biopsy.