Umbilical cord cells may boost survival of COVID-19 patients
15 June, 2021
- A little clinical trial suggests stem cells from umbilical cords can reduce the mortality rate of COVID-19 patients on ventilators.
- The cells may help calm the cytokine storm implicated in acute respiratory distress syndrome.
- The procedure appears particularly effective among patients with underlying health issues such as for example obesity, kidney disease, and diabetes.
- In the first months of the pandemic in 2020, the mortality rate of patients with pneumonia because of COVID-19 in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Persahabatan Central Hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia, reached 87%.
“This situation necessitated that clinicians fashion a breakthrough remedy to improve the survival of patients in the ICU,” write Professor Ismail Hadisoebroto Dilogo, M.D., Ph.D., and his colleagues in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine.
Within their paper, Prof. Dilogo and his team, professionnals in stem cell therapy at Cipto Mangunkusumo Central Hospital in Jakarta, describe a clinical trial of the procedure they devised.
Between May 1 and October 10, 2020, the trial randomly assigned 40 patients with COVID-19 to get either injections of umbilical cord stem cells in saline solution or injections of saline alone.
All the patients had extreme pneumonia and were on ventilators in the ICU at four hospitals in Jakarta.
Out from the 20 patients who received injections of stem cells, 10 survived, while only 4 out of 20 patients survived in the control group.
The researchers report that among patients with underlying health conditions, those who received the procedure were 4.5 times as more likely to survive weighed against controls.
There were no adverse events that the scientists could attribute to the treatment.
Cytokine storm
The leading reason behind death in COVID-19 is acute respiratory distress syndrome, which may be because of an overreaction of the immune system or “cytokine storm” - although this remains controversial.
The sort of stem cell that researchers found in the new trial, called a mesenchymal stromal cell or MSC, has proven promise for treating lung diseases such as for example asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
MSCs may actually improve these conditions by toning down the immune system’s inflammatory responses.
The cells are located in several tissues in the body, including bone marrow and adipose tissue, but also the umbilical cordTrusted Source.
The latter is a far more freely available, readily accessible source. Furthermore, the recipient’s immune system is less likelyTrusted Source to reject the umbilical cord cells.
In their paper, Prof. Dilogo and his co-authors conclude that MSCs may increase survival rates among critically ill patients by switching their immune systems to an anti-inflammatory mode.
They report that circulating degrees of a pro-inflammatory cytokine called interleukin 6 were substantially reduced in patients who received infusions of MSCs weighed against control patients.
Interestingly, the antibody-drug tocilizumab - which blocks IL-6 receptors - is among the few treatments found to boost survival.
Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com
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