Clinical trials all over the world are showing positive results when treating COVID-19 patients suffering from ARDS with MSCs.
The worldwide race to develop effective therapies for complications from COVID-19 infection are ongoing. Patients with particularly severe responses are often diagnosed with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
COVID-19 patients dependent on ventilators showed promising results when treated with new drug in New York’s Mt. Sinai hospital.
The U.S Food and Drug Administration approved Mesoblast’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application to treat patients with COVID-19−related Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) using remestemcel-L, an intravenous (IV) infusion of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).
A Phase III clinical trial comparing hematopoietic stem cell transplants to immunomodulators is underway.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the destruction of the myelin sheath of nerve fibers. There is no cure for the condition, but there are a number of FDA-approved immunomodulators or disease-modifying therapies to reduce relapses and slow disease progression. Despite the availability of these drugs, their varying efficacy, adverse effects, and expense are significant concerns. Therefore, a means to safely and effectively control MS symptoms and progression is still under investigation.
A newly developed single-treatment approach, uses autologous gene therapy and CD34 stem cells to improve erythrocyte function in SSD patients.
Sickle cell disease (SSD) refers to a group of inherited erythrocyte disorders. Hemoglobin in people with SSD becomes defective leading to abnormal shaping of erythrocytes. The defective hemoglobin form, hemoglobin S, replaces the normal hemoglobin A. The abnormally crescent or sickle-shaped erythrocytes cause a number of illnesses associated with the clogging of vessels, poor oxygen flow to organs, and associated damage.
Research out of the University of Colorado found that by increasing expression of the MLL gene in induced Pluripotent Stem Cells they could stimulate hematopoietic stem cell production.
The mixed-lineage leukemia 1 (MLL1) gene is disrupted in certain types of acute leukemias due to incorrect fusion with other genes. The majority of patients with leukemias resulting from MLL1 gene fusions are infants under one year of age with primarily acute lymphoblastic leukemias. Some patients with MLL1-related leukemia are those who developed it after treatment with certain chemotherapeutic agents. This subset of patients may rise due to the increased development and use of immunotherapies targeting B-lymphoid cell surface markers.