Covid-19: stem cell-like therapy advances in tests

Spanish scientists created a stem cell treatment similar to that of stem cells that proved safe in two initial clinical trials for Covid-19.
The therapy, known by the acronym MSC, is capable both of controlling inflammatory processes that damage lung tissue and of repairing the damage caused.
The most recent result on therapy came in July, in a phase 1 test conducted at the University Hospital of Salamanca, Spain, in which 13 patients with Covid-19, admitted to the ICU, were treated with novelty.
After the positive results of the first test, with eleven patients having survived severe complications of Covid-19, scientists have already started a phase 2 test, which consists of the preliminary evaluation of the efficacy of the therapy.
"The administration of MSC cells from adipose tissue, followed by better clinical and changes in inflammatory composition and immune system, suggests that there was a potential biological effect of the cells," spanish scientists described in an article published in the medical journal The Lancet.
It was not the first time that MSC therapy has shown promising results in clinical trials. In March, a group of researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York had also tested the treatment in a phase 1 trial and obtained good results - 10 of 12 critically ill patients survived.
- MSC cell therapy
The therapy was called "mesenchymal stroma cells" or "signaling medicinal cells", because, in fact, such cells emit signals to the immune and circulatory systems that activate repair systems for damage caused in different tissues, such as the pulmonary ones.
Their anti-inflammatory effect is due to the control of so-called "cytokine storms", the uncontrolled proliferation of inflammatory molecules that is common in diseases such as Covid-19.
"Preclinical and clinical evidence indicates that CsMs migrate to the lung and react to the pro-inflammatory environment there by releasing anti-inflammatory molecules, reducing the proliferation of pro-inflammatory cytokines," said Annetine Gelijns, a physician at Mount Sinai, in a report on the ongoing clinical trial delivered to health officials.
According to the researchers, the control of this inflammatory process can contribute to fight the infection of the coronavirus itself, because it is the damaged pulmonary membrane that allows the pathogen to invade the circulatory system of patients, which can cause thrombosis and trigger a process that leads to multiple organ failure.
- Treatment release
Even without a conclusion about the phase 3 test, Mesoblast, the company that provided the cells for the clinical trial, referred a request to the FDA for an early release of the therapy, as the results of the initial tests were promising.
According to the company, regulators promised to respond to the request by September 30.