- Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 is an essential regulator of heart function. Crackower, M.A., Sarao, R., Oudit, G.Y., Yagil, C., Kozieradzki, I., Scanga, S.E., Oliveira-dos-Santos, A.J., da Costa, J., Zhang, L., Pei, Y., Scholey, J., Ferrario, C.M., Manoukian, A.S., Chappell, M.C., Backx, P.H., Yagil, Y., Penninger, J.M. Nature (2002)