Mesenchymal stem cell therapies for COVID-19: Current status and mechanism of action

The outbreak of COVID-19 in December 2019, has become an urgent and serious public health emergency. At present, there is no effective treatment or vaccine for COVID-19. Therefore, there is a crucial unmet need to develop a safe and effective treatment for COVID-19 patients. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are widely used in basic science and in a variety of clinical trials. MSCs are able to engraft to the damaged tissues after transplantation and promote tissue regeneration, besides MSCs able to secrete immunomodulatory factors that suppress the cytokine storms. Moreover, the contribution of MSCs to prevent cell death and inhibit tissue fibrosis is well established. In the current review article, the potential mechanisms by which MSCs contribute to the treatment of COVID-19 patients are highlighted. Also, current trials that evaluated the potential of MSC-based treatments for COVID-19 are briefly reviewed.