A 3-months Follow-up Study In Discharged COVID-19 Patients With Mesenchymal Stem Cells Treatment

Objective COVID-19(Corona Virus Disease 2019,COVID-19)has become a major global public health problem,but there is still a lack of effective treatment.Previous studies of our group have found that human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells(h UC-MSCs)have a clear intervention effect on the acute stage of severe COVID-19.The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of h UC-MSCs in patients with severe COVID-19 after 3 months of treatment.MethodsClinical data of 28 patients with severe COVID-19 admitted to Hubei Huangshi Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine on February 12,2020 and March 25,2020were followed up for 3 months after discharge,including 8 patients in the h UC-MSCs treatment group(standard treatment +h UC-MSCs infusion)and 20 patients in the control group(standard treatment).Outcome indicators included subjective symptoms,lung function,St.George’s Respiratory Questionnaire(SGRQ),CT imaging scores,liver and kidney function,coagulation function,myocardial injury,tumor markers,etc.ResultsAfter 3 months of follow-up,compared with the control group,(1)in terms of clinical symptoms,the incidence of fatigue and fatigue was 0(0%)and 14(70.0%)(P=0.002)in the h UC-MSCs treatment group;1(12.5%),1(12.5%),0(0%),8(40.0%),5(25.0%),5(25.0%),and 5(25.0%)had sleep difficulty,anxiety,and depression,respectively,but there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups.(2)The percentage of forced expiratory volume in one second(FEV1)in the predicted value(FEV1% pred)was 71.88±8.46 and 59.45±27.45(P&L;0.01),FEV1/FVC ratio(FEV1/FVC)of the two groups were 79.95±8.00 and 58.97±19.16(P<0.05).(3)In terms of life quality assessment,the SGRQ scores of the two groups were 15.89±3.95 and 31.9±8.78,respectively,P<0.05).(4)In terms of chest imaging scores,CT scores in the two groups were 0.60±0.88 and 1.00±1.31respectively(P=0.917),which were significantly lower than those at discharge,but there was no statistical difference between the two groups.(5)There was no significant difference between the h UC-MSCs infusion group and the control group in the routine examination of peripheral blood routine,C-reactive protein(CRP),procalcitonin(PCT),liver and kidney function,coagulation function,myocardial injury and tumor marker levels.ConclusionsThree months after treatment of patients with severe COVID-19 with h UC-MSCs:1.Significantly reduced the incidence of fatigue and fatigue symptoms,and tended to reduce sleep difficulties,anxiety and depression;2.Faster promotion of partial lung function(FEV1%pred,FEV1/FVC)repair and improvement of life quality;3.No obvious adverse reactions were observed,indicating good safety.