Georgina Ellison-Hughes, Professor of King’s College London, found stem cells can control many parts of the immune system and even rein it in where there’s a danger of it overreacting to Covid infections
We have come a long way in discovering new weapons against Covid. But people who require ventilation have been especially difficult to treat since the pandemic took hold.
An international team of researchers came up with an innovative approach to treating seriously ill patients using stem cells.
Georgina Ellison-Hughes, Professor of King’s College London, a member of the International Society on Aging and Disease, found stem cells (MSC) can control many parts of the immune system and even rein it in where there’s a danger of it overreacting to Covid infections.
These MSC stem cells have a unique ability to modulate the immune system. This makes them an ideal candidate for Covid treatment.
In February 2020, the professor and her team had shown that an injection of MSC into seven Covid-19 pneumonia patients improved symptoms and recovery time, compared to three placebo-treated patients.
In its latest study, the team completed a trial of MSC infused intravenously. The MSC treatment was highly effective and quickly relieved symptoms. It also improved the prognosis for severely ill patients.
Patients with critical bronchial or lung disease showed greater improvement after MSC treatment than those in the placebo group. Follow-up chest scans also revealed a greater improvement. Importantly, the treatment also led to a shorter hospital stay – 11 days versus 15 days. This fact has been popular with patients and their loved ones and will promote MSC therapy.
Professor Ellison Hughes is positive.
“These findings advance MSC transplantation as a safe and effective therapeutic for treating those critically ill patients with Covid-19,”She says.
“Our findings show MSC therapy has multiple modes of action in how it can effectively treat Covid-19.”
During the trial, markers of Covid disease were tracked and MSC treatment improved them all, especially the markers for severe inflammation, and resulted in prolonged persistence of Covid-19 antibodies.
MSC infusion reduced the incidence of thrombosis which is a side effect of Covid infection. MSC really seems to improve many aspects of the infection and counteract its ill effects.
The MSC group patients tolerated the treatment well, and they were discharged from the hospital with no adverse reactions. The MSC group had a zero death rate, while the placebo group had 6.9%.
This is in line with previous clinical trials and indicates that it is safe to use for patients with Covid.
Wow, I’m impressed. Another weapon against Covid in our arsenal
