Department of Hematology, Union Hospital, Tong Ji Medical College, Hua Zhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei, China.
State Industrial Base for Stem Cell Engineering Products, No. 12 Meiyuan Road, Tianjin, 300384, China.
Stem Cell Res Ther. 2022 Mar 24;13(1):124. doi: 10.1186/s13287-022-02810-6.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has spread into more than 200 countries and infected approximately 203 million people globally. COVID-19 is associated with high mortality and morbidity in some patients, and this disease still does not have effective treatments with reproducibly appreciable outcomes. One of the leading complications associated with COVID-19 is acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS); this is an anti-viral host inflammatory response, and it is usually caused by a cytokine storm syndrome which may lead to multi-organ failure and death. Currently, COVID-19 patients are treated with approaches that mostly fall into two major categories: immunomodulators, which promote the body's fight against viruses efficiently, and antivirals, which slow or stop viruses from multiplying. These treatments include a variety of novel therapies that are currently being tested in clinical trials, including serum, IL-6 antibody, and remdesivir; however, the outcomes of these therapies are not consistently appreciable and remain a subject of debate. Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs), the multipotent stem cells that have previously been used to treat viral infections and various respiratory diseases such as ARDS exhibit immunomodulatory properties and can ameliorate tissue damage. Given that SARS-CoV-2 targets the immune system and causes tissue damage, it is presumable that MSCs are being explored to treat COVID-19 patients. This review summarizes the potential mechanisms of action of MSC therapy, progress of MSC, and its related products in clinical trials for COVID-19 therapy based on the outcomes of these clinical studies.
新型冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行是由严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2（SARS-CoV-2）引起的，已蔓延到 200 多个国家，在全球范围内感染了约 2.03 亿人。COVID-19 导致一些患者死亡率和发病率高，而这种疾病仍然没有有效的治疗方法，疗效也不能重复。COVID-19 的主要并发症之一是急性呼吸窘迫综合征（ARDS）；这是一种抗病毒宿主炎症反应，通常由细胞因子风暴综合征引起，可能导致多器官衰竭和死亡。目前，COVID-19 患者的治疗方法主要分为两大类：免疫调节剂，可有效促进机体对抗病毒；抗病毒药物，可减缓或阻止病毒繁殖。这些治疗方法包括目前正在临床试验中测试的各种新型疗法，包括血清、白细胞介素 6 抗体和瑞德西韦；然而，这些疗法的疗效并不一致，仍存在争议。间充质干细胞（MSCs）是一种多能干细胞，以前曾用于治疗病毒感染和各种呼吸系统疾病，如 ARDS，具有免疫调节特性，可以改善组织损伤。由于 SARS-CoV-2 靶向免疫系统并导致组织损伤，因此可以推测 MSCs 正在被探索用于治疗 COVID-19 患者。基于这些临床研究的结果，本综述总结了 MSC 治疗 COVID-19 的潜在作用机制、MSC 的进展及其在 COVID-19 治疗临床试验中的相关产品。
