Diagnosis and Treatment Guidelines for Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Beijing, 2021)

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can be caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, and has led to millions of deaths among more than 100 million infected people around the world according to the declaration from World Health Organization. Dysregulated immune response of both the innate and adaptive immune systems is subsistent on COVID-19 patients, of which the degree are associated with disease severity, lung damage and long term functional disability. Current treatment options have included antiretroviral drugs, anti-inflammatory factors, antibodies, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and convalescent plasma therapy. More recently, mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy has been explored for the management and control of COVID-19, particularly with the aim of preventing or at least mitigating respiratory co-morbidities. Though the safety and efficacy of stem cell therapy have been validated in multiple phase I-III clinical trials, to date, no standardized stem cell preparation, administration dosage or interval, product QA/QC testing, storage, transportation, or disposal protocols have been established. The present paper proposes a systematic methodology that addresses all the foregoing process steps and evaluation criteria for the efficacious and safe administration of MSCs in the treatment of patients infected with COVID-19.