Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) as a Novel Therapeutic Option for nCOVID-19—A Review

The novel Coronavirus Disease (nCOVID-19) is a highly contagious viral infection which emerged as “Pneumonia of Unknown Etiology” at Hubei province of Wuhan city in China. The health authorities provided a considerable empirical evidence after this outbreak and it was notified that the causative virus, named Novel Coronavirus (subsequently SARS-CoV-2) is the culprit for progressively exerting grim effects not only on individual patients but also on the International public health, with high mutational tendencies. WHO declared nCOVID-19 as a Pandemic on 11th March 2020. The spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 plays a pivotal role in the entry of virus into the cell and it further interacts with ACE-II receptors which are widely distributed on the human cell surface especially on alveolar type II cells (AT-2) and endothelium. The mortality in nCOVID-19 patients is usually preceded by acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) because of the cytokine storm. Advanced molecular biology and regenerative sciences renders a breakthrough in the treatment of severely ill nCOVID-19 patients with Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs). Autologous or allogenic MSCs attenuate cytokine storm, improvise lung compliance, regulate inflammatory response, maintain functional alveoli microenvironment, promote endogenous regeneration and repair with no or minimal side effects. MSCs are naturally resistant to this novel Coronavirus. Even though it is corroborated with evidences from current clinical trials and pilot study, we emphasize the need for conducting more clinical trials with ethical consideration to prove the efficacy and safety of MSCs in combating nCOVID-19 infection and its complications.