AI Summary
A systematic review and meta-analysis conducted by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil, in partnership with colleagues in Germany and the United States, found that the use of cell therapy in COVID-19 patients can reduce the risk of death from the disease by 60%. The review covered 195 clinical trials of advanced cell therapies targeting COVID-19 conducted in 30 countries between January 2020 and December 2021. Cell therapy involves introducing healthy cells into the patient's body to restore or alter certain sets of cells, carry out therapy, or modulate the function of diseased cells. The most frequently used cell types in COVID-19 treatment trials were multipotent mesenchymal stem cells, natural killer cells, and mononuclear cells from blood.
The use of cell therapy to treat COVID-19 patients can reduce the risk of death from the disease by 60%, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis conducted by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil, in partnership with colleagues in Germany and the United States.
Their findings are reported in an article published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology.
The review covers 195 clinical trials of advanced cell therapies targeting COVID-19 that were conducted in 30 countries between January 2020 and December 2021, as well as 26 trials with outcomes published by July 2022.
Cell therapy has come into increasingly frequent use in recent years to treat several diseases, especially cancer. It consists basically of introducing healthy cells into the patient’s organism in order to restore or alter certain sets of cells, carry a therapy through the body, or modulate the function of diseased cells.
The technique uses stem cells and derivatives from the patient (autologous) or from a donor (allogenic). The cells are cultured or modified in the laboratory before being administered. According to the article, the cell types most frequently used in clinical trials relating to treatment of COVID-19 in the period were multipotent mesenchymal stem (stromal) cells from connective tissue, used in 72% of the studies reviewed; natural killer cells from lymphoblasts, used in 9%; and mononuclear cells from blood, used in 6%.
“Cell therapy has advanced significantly in recent years and has been used to treat cancer and auto-immune, heart and