The Susceptibility of Healthy People to COVID-19 Infection and the Role of ACE2

Mehdi Kushkestani; Mohsen Parvani; Bakhtyar  Tartibian; Rasoul Eslami

doi:10.18502/jimc.v4i3.7212

Mehdi Kushkestani Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Allameh Tabatabai’ University, Tehran, Iran
Mohsen Parvani Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Allameh Tabatabai’ University, Tehran, Iran
Bakhtyar Tartibian Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Allameh Tabatabai’ University, Tehran, Iran
Rasoul Eslami Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Allameh Tabatabai’ University, Tehran, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jimc.v4i3.7212

Keywords: Blood group antigens, Body mass index, COVID-19, Nutritional status, SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

The COVID-19 virus has caused many deaths of people worldwide since the pandemic began. However, no definitive treatment for this infection has been discovered so far. It has been shown that comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases are associated with an increased risk of SARS-COV-2 infection. Interestingly, SARS-COV-2, like SARS-COV, uses the ACE2 gene to enter the host cell. Also, changes or imbalance in ACE2.ACE can affect SARS-COV-2 susceptibility, related outcomes and mortality. Regarding the crucial role of ACE2 protein in COVID-19 infection, the effect of different factors such as age, BMI, physical activity levels, nutritional status, altitude, as well as blood group was assessed on the level of this protein. Further, to our knowledge, no study has been conducted to examine factors that increase or decrease the risk of COVID-19 and its related severity and outcome in normal subjects emphasizing the pivotal role of ACE2. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to investigate the involved mechanisms of ACE2 protein and other risk factors causing infection in different situations and finally, to introduce a safe, accurate, and cost-effective approach to prevent SARS-COV-2 infection and hard clinical outcomes in normal subjects.