The use of cell therapy to treat patients with COVID-19 could reduce the risk of death from the disease by 60%, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis carried out by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP), in Brazil. in collaboration with colleagues from Germany and the United States…
The use of cell therapy to treat COVID-19 patients could rreduce the risk of death from the disease by 60%according to a systematic review and meta-analysis carried out by researchers from the University of São Paulo (USP), in Brazil, in collaboration with colleagues from Germany and the United States whose findings are published in the journal ‘Frontiers in Immunology’, as reported by María Fernanda Ziegler, through the FAPESP Agency.
The clinical trials of advanced cell therapy for COVID-19 analyzed by the authors of said work were carried out in 30 countries, mainly the United States, China, Iran and Spain. However, being very heterogeneous, with very variable numbers of participants, designs and methodologies, the researchers chose to develop a database of COVID-19 trials.
According to the study, the types of cells most used in clinical trials related to the treatment of COVID-19 were multipotent mesenchymal (stromal) stem cells from connective tissue, used in 72% of the studies reviewed; lymphoblast natural killer cells, used in 9%; and mononuclear blood cells, by 6%.
“Cell therapy has advanced significantly in recent years and has been used to treat cancer, autoimmune, cardiac and infectious diseases. During the pandemic, it was used to treat COVID-19 in several clinical trials. Our study is the first to review all the information about these experiences spread around the world and to verify, through a meta-analysis, how cell therapy works when used to treat COVID-19. and related complications“he explained Otávio Cabral-Marques, professor at the USP Faculty of Medicine and coordinator of the study.
Various limitations
The authors also detected differences in terms of the phases of the trials. In many countries, especially In Europe, strict regulation limits the number of cell therapy products human, so 56% of the trials did not reach phase 2, which generally focuses on determining safety, efficacy and dose-response in volunteers with the disease. Another limitation was that 31% of the analyzed trials did not have a control group.
““To arrive at such a large reduction in the risk of death, we had to take into account the findings and characteristics of the different studies, in addition to making a certain number of corrections and estimates.”he pointed Igor Salerno Filgueiras, PhD candidate. and co-author of the article.
“There are techniques to standardize data, eliminate bias, and produce an unbiased result, allowing analysts to reach conclusions that often go unnoticed in a specific study but add to relevant scientific evidence when reinforced by other data.“he added Dennyson Leandro M. Fonsecaanother co-author and FAPESP doctoral fellow.
“The results highlight the important role that these cells can play in adjuvant therapies for COVID-19 and associated complications. However, they also point to the need for better control of key parameters related to how cell therapy products are manufactured if we are to ensure comparability between studies.“concluded Dr. Cabral-Marques.