Open AccessTargeting mesenchymal stem cell therapy for severe pneumonia patients
Author(s) -
Guy Lam,
Yuan Zhou,
Jiaxian Wang,
Yat-Ping Tsui
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
world journal of stem cells
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.907
H-Index - 18
ISSN - 1948-0210
DOI - 10.4252/wjsc.v13.i2.139
Subject(s) - medicine , pneumonia , cytokine storm , intensive care medicine , mesenchymal stem cell , immunology , stem cell , clinical trial , disease , covid-19 , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , biology , genetics
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.