Lam Guy, Zhou Yuan, Wang Jia-Xian, Tsui Yat-Ping
School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China.
Research and Development, Help Therapeutics Co. Ltd., Nanjing 211100, Jiangsu Province, China.
World J Stem Cells. 2021 Feb 26;13(2):139-154. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v13.i2.139.
Pneumonia is the inflammation of the lungs and it is the world's leading cause of death for children under 5 years of age. The latest coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus is a prominent culprit to severe pneumonia. With the pandemic running rampant for the past year, more than 1590000 deaths has occurred worldwide up to December 2020 and are substantially attributable to severe pneumonia and induced cytokine storm. Effective therapeutic approaches in addition to the vaccines and drugs under development are hence greatly sought after. Therapies harnessing stem cells and their derivatives have been established by basic research for their versatile capacity to specifically inhibit inflammation due to pneumonia and prevent alveolar/pulmonary fibrosis while enhancing antibacterial/antiviral immunity, thus significantly alleviating the severe clinical conditions of pneumonia. In recent clinical trials, mesenchymal stem cells have shown effectiveness in reducing COVID-19-associated pneumonia morbidity and mortality; positioning these cells as worthy candidates for combating one of the greatest challenges of our time and shedding light on their prospects as a next-generation therapy to counter future challenges.
肺炎是肺部的炎症，是全球5岁以下儿童的主要死因。最新的2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）病毒是导致严重肺炎的一个重要元凶。在过去一年里，随着疫情肆虐，截至2020年12月，全球已发生超过159万例死亡，其中很大一部分归因于严重肺炎和由此引发的细胞因子风暴。因此，除了正在研发的疫苗和药物外，人们迫切需要有效的治疗方法。利用干细胞及其衍生物的疗法已通过基础研究得以确立，因为它们具有多种能力，能够特异性抑制肺炎引起的炎症，预防肺泡/肺纤维化，同时增强抗菌/抗病毒免疫力，从而显著缓解肺炎的严重临床症状。在最近的临床试验中，间充质干细胞已显示出在降低COVID-19相关肺炎发病率和死亡率方面的有效性；这使这些细胞成为应对我们这个时代最大挑战之一的有价值候选者，并为其作为应对未来挑战的下一代疗法的前景带来希望。
