Health and Science

Stem Cell Therapies for Covid Patients Look Promising and Effective.

The safety and efficacy of stem cells in treating patients with the Covid virus. The silver lining for the pandemic.

Can stem cells solve the Covid situation?

Stem cell research has been an interest to me since the beginning. The other day, I met a microbiologist friend who specializes in stem cell research.

During our conversation, I asked her whether stem cells could solve the Covid situation. She smiled brightly and replied with a rhetorical question, “Didn’t I tell you stem cells could be used for many conditions?”

Her informed perspectives indicated that stem cells could be useful for many diseases. It was my gut feeling which was validated by a professional. Her guidance inspired me to write this short article to inform my readers.

Based on my previous research, I knew that medical practitioners used stem cell therapy to treat various diseases, including HIV.

My most significant interest in stem cells has been autoimmune diseases that affected my father, who died from ALS. And rheumatoid arthritis affected me in my younger years, which I cured with lifestyle changes. I also learn a lot about the therapeutic effects of stem cells on genetic and infectious diseases.

My recent curiosity was to know whether any research was conducted on using stem cells to treat Covid. This unique virus is a relatively new situation, so I did not expect many conclusive studies yet.

She disagreed and mentioned that many studies had been conducted, and the research has been very active in the field. Then, she referred me to a systemic review and meta-analysis published in the Frontiers in Medicine.

When I obtained a copy of the paper titled, I got excited as the research team reviewed 1,262 records and identified ten studies meeting their research criteria. Seeing so many records and qualified studies for the meta-analysis looked promising.

Wearing my academic hat, the first point I checked in the paper was the criteria used to select and include documents in the meta-analysis. I consume these types of analyses with a pinch of salt as some poor studies don’t have established criteria. But this piece convinced me because the researchers used a valid and compelling set of standards.

They included three critical data points in their selection criteria:

1 — patients diagnosed with COVID-19 based on the World Health Organization definition

2 — Patients treated with stem cells

3 — Treatment outcomes recorded in conference abstracts, editorials, reviews, and experimental studies on animal models

I was happy with the rigor of analysis in the paper and that the conclusion answered the question I asked my friend.

The research team concluded that “stem cell therapy has a remarkable effect on reducing mortality and morbidity of patients with COVID-19. Further large-scale studies are needed to approve these results. Defining a protocol for stem cell therapy in patients with COVID-19 can lead to achieving the best clinical outcomes.”

I checked several papers cited in this meta-analysis. My aim was to understand the mechanism and approaches researchers used.

The paper titled Proposed Mechanisms of Targeting COVID-19 by Delivering Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Their Exosomes to Damaged Organs in Springer answered my question. So I understood that the mechanism included “immunomodulation, regenerative ability, clearance of alveolar fluid, and preventing thrombotic events from using stem cells to treat COVID-19.” You can read the paper free at this link.

The immunomodulation mechanisms were explained using two older papers: paper1 and paper 2. In summary, the mechanism includes inhibiting B cells, T cells, natural killer cells proliferation and activity, inhibiting maturation and antigen-presenting of dendritic cells, and in addition, enhancing M2 macrophage activation and restraining cytokine storm. The details of these mechanisms can be reviewed in both papers, which explain them in detail if you are interested in immunology research.

I learned a lot about Mesenchymal stem cells through conversations with my friends specializing in stem cell research. They have been of particular interest to me because they effectively reduce inflammation. I suffered from chronic inflammation for many years. Therefore, these breakthrough investigations sustain my curiosity.

The covid virus creates significant inflammation in the body and the brain. In summary, the anti-inflammatory properties of mesenchymal stem cells can reduce inflammation by releasing chemokines transforming growth factor-beta, nitric oxide, and prostaglandin in their secretomes.

With great curiosity, I quickly browsed a few other papers cited in the meta-analysis. Several studies pointed out that stem cells could reduce the mortality rate. In addition, they highlighted that stem cells could improve pulmonary function and disease remission in Covid patients.

As Covid affected my beloved ones like my wife, mum, and hundreds of friends and colleagues, it is a matter close to my heart. Therefore, I intensified my research in the field by reading every valuable contribution to the body of knowledge.

I investigated the neurological effects of Covid as it severely affected my wife. I shared my personal experience in a story titled: Reflections from My 14 Day Compulsory Isolation, Ended Yesterday. I also shared my research on the neurological impacts of Covid in a condensed literature review of preliminary papers.

I reviewed two promising supplements for the treatment of Covid virus by providing scientific links. The first one was about N-Acetyl Cysteine titled: Why NAC is a Critical Molecule for Health: What if there’s hope to improve immunity. The second one was Vitamin D, titled Why Vitamin D Is Vital for Immunity & Promising for Covid.

In addition, I also investigated the mental health effects of Covid and posted an article reviewing a paper showing links between Covid-19 and Alzheimer’s-Like Brain Impairment in this article. The paper informed that “dementia-like cognitive impairment is an increasingly reported complication of Covid infection.”

I continue my research on both the physical and mental health effects of the Covid virus. Thus, I plan to post more informative articles reflecting the research development in science communities related to these topics.

I am glad to witness significant focus by governments funding valuable research in the field. We quickly learn about this new virus that catches us off the cuff. I firmly believe that we will find effective ways to beat this new monster with collective intelligence.

In addition to the Covid pandemic, one of my most significant concerns is metabolic syndrome causing the obesity pandemic globally. Therefore, I shared my perspectives in a recent article.

Thank you for reading my perspectives and observations. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

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