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Umbilical Cord And Its Role In Boosting Survival Of Covid-19 Patients

A recent clinical trial suggests that the cells of the umbilical cord can boost the survival rates of the covid-19 patients on life-support.

Umbilical Cord And Its Role In Boosting Survival Of Covid-19 Patients

The cells can help in managing the cytokine response that arises in case of acute respiratory symptoms, as seen in covid-19 patients.

The new treatment approach holds significance, particularly for people with long-standing medical issues like kidney problems, obesity, and diabetes.

Umbilical Cord And Its Role In Boosting Survival Of Covid-19 Patients

The findings during the early days of the pandemic:

During the initial months of the pandemic in 2020, the mortality rate of the patients suffering from covid induced pneumonia admitted in the intensive care unit of the Persahabatan Central Hospital in Jakarta had reached 87%.

This crisis prompted the researchers to look for a breakthrough treatment that can increase the survival rate of these patients.

The details of the trial:

The trial took place between 1st May and 10th October of 2020, and 40 randomly selected patients were either given injection containing saline water and the cells of the umbilical cord, or they were given injections with only saline water.

All the randomly selected patients were suffering from an acute form of covid induced pneumonia and were under life support in the hospitals.

Out of the 20 patients who were administered the injection with saline water and cells of the umbilical cord, ten survived, while out of the 20 patients who received only saline water in their injection, only 4 survived.

The researchers further observed that patients with underlying health conditions who received the umbilical cord treatment were 4.5 times more likely to survive compared to those who did not receive the treatment.

Moreover, no negative impact was observed that could arise from the treatment.

Cytokine storm; a leading cause of death among covid patients:

The main cause of death among the covid patients is acute respiratory distress syndrome that is mainly caused by overactivity of the immune system that is popularly termed as cytokine storm, although this theory still remains controversial.

The type of stem cells from the umbilical cord that was used by the researchers is known as the mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC). It has shown significant potential in treating acute lung conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma.

The MSCs can improve the condition by subduing the inflammatory response of the immune system.

Prevalence of the MSCs:

These MSC cells are found in several locations of the body, including the bone marrow, adipose tissue, and the umbilical cord, and for the purpose of the study, unaltered stem cells, known as naïve stem cells, were used.

The umbilical cord is the most accessible source for the MSCs and the immune system of the body is less likely to reject the cells obtained from this source.

The authors of the study conclude that the MSCs can increase the survival rate of the patients by altering the immune system of the patients to an anti-inflammatory mode.

The authors of the study report that the level of circulating pro-inflammatory cytokine called  interleukin-6 (IL-6) was largely reduced in patients who had received a combination of MSCs as compared to the patients who did not receive any MSC at all

Strikingly, an antibody-drug that can reduce the mortality rate in covid patients tocilizumab that blocks the IL-6 receptors.

This is a comparatively new treatment and shows some promise in treating acute covid symptoms.

The limitations of the study:

The authors of the study acknowledge that there are some limitations associated with the findings of the study.

For instance, further researches are to be carried out using a larger number of patients and more clinical trials for getting validation of the results. 

 Moreover, it was reported by the authors that how long the patients in the ICU received the treatment was not accounted for, this unaccounted variable may have caused a bias in the results of the study.

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