Cell therapy strategies for COVID-19: Current approaches and potential applications

Mark M Zaki; Emal Lesha; Khaled Said; Kiavash Kiaee; Lindsey Robinson-McCarthy; Haydy George; Angy Hanna; Evan Appleton; Songlei Liu; Alex H M Ng; Parastoo Khoshakhlagh; George M Church

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abg5995

Cell therapy strategies for COVID-19: Current approaches and potential applications

Sci Adv. 2021 Aug 11;7(33):eabg5995. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abg5995. Print 2021 Aug.

Authors

Mark M Zaki^{1

2}, Emal Lesha^{1

3}, Khaled Said⁴, Kiavash Kiaee⁴, Lindsey Robinson-McCarthy⁴, Haydy George¹, Angy Hanna⁵, Evan Appleton^{4

6}, Songlei Liu^{4

6}, Alex H M Ng^{7

4

6}, Parastoo Khoshakhlagh^{7

4

6}, George M Church^{7

4

6}

Affiliations

¹ GC Therapeutics Inc., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
² Department of Neurosurgery, University of Michigan, 1500 E Medical Center Dr., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
³ Department of Neurosurgery, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38163, USA.
⁴ Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
⁵ Department of Medicine, Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, MI, USA.
⁶ Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02115, USA.
⁷ GC Therapeutics Inc., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. gchurch@genetics.med.harvard.edu parastoo@gc-tx.com alex@gc-tx.com.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to burden society worldwide. Despite most patients having a mild course, severe presentations have limited treatment options. COVID-19 manifestations extend beyond the lungs and may affect the cardiovascular, nervous, and other organ systems. Current treatments are nonspecific and do not address potential long-term consequences such as pulmonary fibrosis, demyelination, and ischemic organ damage. Cell therapies offer great potential in treating severe COVID-19 presentations due to their customizability and regenerative function. This review summarizes COVID-19 pathogenesis, respective areas where cell therapies have potential, and the ongoing 89 cell therapy trials in COVID-19 as of 1 January 2021.

Copyright © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY).

Publication types

Review