Hou XY, Danzeng LM, Wu YL, Ma QH, Yu Z, Li MY, Li LS. Mesenchymal stem cells and their derived exosomes for the treatment of COVID-19. World J Stem Cells 2024; 16(4): 353-374 [PMID: 38690515 DOI: 10.4252/wjsc.v16.i4.353]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Li-Sha Li, PhD, Professor, The Key Laboratory of Pathobiology, Ministry of Education, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, No. 126 Xinmin Street, Changchun 130021, Jilin Province, China. lilisha@jlu.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Cell Biology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Xiang-Yi Hou, La-Mu Danzeng, Yi-Lin Wu, Mei-Ying Li, Li-Sha Li, The Key Laboratory of Pathobiology, Ministry of Education, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, Jilin Province, China
Qian-Hui Ma, Department of Pharmacy, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, Jilin Province, China
Zheng Yu, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, Jilin Province, China
Co-first authors: Xiang-Yi Hou and La-Mu Danzeng.
Co-corresponding authors: Mei-Ying Li and Li-Sha Li.
Author contributions: Hou XY, Danzeng LM, and Ma QH wrote the paper; Wu YL and Yu Z created the figures; Li MY and Li LS reviewed, and edited the final manuscript. Li MY and Li LS contributions are equal, and each co-corresponding author has made significant contributions to different vital aspects of the research. These contributions include joint writing and a final review of the manuscript.
Supported byScience and Technology Department Project of Jilin Province, China, No. 20230101163JC; and the Outstanding Youth Fund Project of Jilin Provincial Department of Education, China, No. JJKH20241324KJ.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Li-Sha Li, PhD, Professor, The Key Laboratory of Pathobiology, Ministry of Education, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, No. 126 Xinmin Street, Changchun 130021, Jilin Province, China. lilisha@jlu.edu.cn
Received: December 21, 2023 Peer-review started: December 21, 2023 First decision: February 3, 2024 Revised: February 17, 2024 Accepted: March 15, 2024 Article in press: March 15, 2024 Published online: April 26, 2024 Processing time: 125 Days and 14.3 Hours
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). SARS-CoV-2 infection typically presents with fever and respiratory symptoms, which can progress to severe respiratory distress syndrome and multiple organ failure. In severe cases, these complications may even lead to death. One of the causes of COVID-19 deaths is the cytokine storm caused by an overactive immune response. Therefore, suppressing the overactive immune response may be an effective strategy for treating COVID-19. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their derived exosomes (MSCs-Exo) have potent homing abilities, immunomodulatory functions, regenerative repair, and antifibrotic effects, promising an effective tool in treating COVID-19. In this paper, we review the main mechanisms and potential roles of MSCs and MSCs-Exo in treating COVID-19. We also summarize relevant recent clinical trials, including the source of cells, the dosage and the efficacy, and the clinical value and problems in this field, providing more theoretical references for the clinical use of MSCs and MSCs-Exo in the treatment of COVID-19.
Core Tip: As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic normalizes, developing efficient treatments is critical to reducing the strain on the healthcare system. We summarize the various current treatments for COVID-19 and the mechanisms of damage caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Through the comparison to existing treatments, we find that stem cell therapy has more research value. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and their derived exosomes (MSC-Exo) have homing, immunomodulatory, and tissue repair abilities. They can reduce lung injury and inhibit pulmonary fibrosis. We summarized the clinical trials in recent years, analyzed the safety and effectiveness of MSC and MSC-Exo treatment from various aspects such as mechanism of action and therapeutic effect, and provided substantial theoretical support for their clinical application.
