A small clinical trial conducted which suggests that stem cells from umbilical cords can reduce the mortality rate of COVID-19 patients who are on ventilators and found these treatment to be effective among those patients having pre-existing conditions like diabetes, Kidney problem and obesity. 

The cells may help calm the cytokine storm, involved in acute respiratory distress syndrome.

A paper published by Ismail Hadisoebroto Dilogo, M.D., Ph.D., and his colleagues in the journal "Stem Cells Translational Medicine", which describe a clinical trial of the treatment they devised.

• The trial randomly was done in 40 Covid-19 patients with severe pneumonia and were on ventilators at four hospitals in Jakarta. Out of this, 20 patients had received injections of umbilical cord stem cells in saline solution. Out of the 20 patients who received injections of stem cells, 10 survived, while only 4 out of 20 patients survived in the control group.
• The researchers also reported those patients with pre-existing health conditions, when received this treatment were 4.5 times more likely to survive compared with those who do not had pre-existing conditions.
• No side-effects with this treatment was reported.

Umbilical Cord and Stem cells

Umbilical cord is a tube that connects a baby and mother. It is the richest source of stem cells. The fluid present in it, are loaded with stem cells, which can help to treat many disease like Cancer, Blood diseases, Immune disorder etc. 

Stem cells on the other hand, are special human cells which are able to develop into any type of cells like brain cells, muscle cells, immune cells etc. 

The type of stem cell that researchers used in the new trial, called a mesenchymal stromal cell or MSC, which has shown promising effect in treating lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. These cells improve these conditions by reducing the immune system’s inflammatory responses.

Mesenchymal stromal cell are found in several tissues in the body such as bone marrow and adipose tissue. It is also freely available in the umbilical cord and the recipient’s immune system is less likely to reject the umbilical cord cells.

Cytokine storm or overreaction of the immune system 

The leading cause of death in COVID-19 is acute respiratory distress syndrome, which may occur due to an overreaction of the immune system or “cytokine storm” — although this is still controversial. 

What the Research Conclude? 

• The authors of this paper conclude that MSCs may increase survival rates of the critically ill patients by switching their immune systems to an anti-inflammatory mode and thus reduced the level of pro-inflammatory cytokine called interleukin-6 in patients who received infusions of MSCs compared with those who didn’t received the injection of MSCs.
• The researchers believe that this approach could lead to an effective therapy for COVID-19 patients in intensive care and can save their lives, who do not respond to conventional treatment.

Limitation of this Research

The authors of this paper also said that they need to conduct more clinical trials with larger number of patients to confirm these results more.