Title:The Promise of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Therapy for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Caused by COVID-19
Volume: 16
Issue: 3
Author(s): Jundong Gu, Qinjun Zhao, Zhibo Han and Zhongchao Han*
Affiliation:
- National Engineering Research Center of Cell Products, Tianjin AmCellGene Engineering Co., Ltd, Tianjin,China
Keywords:
Mesenchymal stem cell, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, ARDS, antiapoptotic, proangiogenic.
Abstract: The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) since Dec
2019, known as COVID-19 or 19-nCoV, has led to a major concern of the potential for not only an
epidemic but a pandemic in China and now it seems to be a public health problem all over the world.
The general mortality rate of the COVID-19 was about 3%. However, the mortality risk seems to be a
significant increase in elderly and cases with chronic disease, who are more likely to develop into acute
respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). There still lacks effective methods for ARDS of COVID-19
patients and the prognosis was poor. Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) based treatment has the advantage
of targeting numerous pathophysiological components of ARDS by secreting a series of cell factors,
exerting anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, immunomodulatory, antiapoptotic, and proangiogenic
effects, resulting in significant structural and functional recovery following ARDS in various preclinical
models. Recently, pilot clinical studies indicated MSCs based therapy was promise in treatment of
ARDS caused by SARS-CoV-2. However, little is known about MSCs therapy for ARDS caused by
COVID-19.
