Kavitha Nandakumar

1 INTRODUCTION The respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and since its global emergence in late 2019, has infected more than 769 million and killed 6.9 million people.1 Studies have shown that the angiotensin-converting-enzyme-2 (ACE2) may play a role in the pathophysiology of COVID-19 infection, specifically facilitating the ability of the virus to enter the cell and contributing to the severity of the disease.

Abstract Background: Conduit pulmonary arterial stiffening and the resultant increase in pulmonary vascular impedance has emerged as an important underlying driver of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Given that matrix deposition is central to vascular remodeling, we evaluated the role of the collagen crosslinking enzyme lysyl oxidase like 2 (LOXL2) in this study. Methods and Results: Human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) subjected to hypoxia showed increased LOXL2 secretion.