The Effect of Stem Cell Therapy Prior to SARS COV-2 Infection: A Retrospective Cohort Study

The rapid development of regenerative medicine and stem cell therapy (SCT) is emerging as a promising therapeutic option. Indeed, it gives new hope for all diseases considered incurable until now: from diabetes to nephropathies, including degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. The year 2020 was marked by the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic that seems to have escaped the attention of the most eminent scientist: SARS. The aim of our study is to investigate if SCT could prevent or decrease human infection with SARS-CoV-2. This is a retrospective study involving a total of 93 patients of all ages and genders. Forty-three of them received SCT and the other 50 did not. The survey was carried out using a questionnaire administered during individual interviews. The survey included questions relating to SCT: indications, side effects and its subjective efficacy, as well as questions in regard to their COVID-19 illness including; the severity of the attack and the adoption of barrier gestures. The data was then analyzed through the SPSS and SPHINX software. The most predominant age category was the age group between 45 and 60 years of age representing 52.7% of the patient population. The male gender represented 74.4% of our patient pool. The most common indication of SCT with 44.2% was for the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DMII). We have identified 52 cases of contamination by COVID-19 out of the 93 patients. Fifty patients who have not benefited from the SCT and 2 of the patients who had SCT were contaminated with SARS-CoV-2. Among the infected patients, 29 were carriers of chronic diseases. The majority of the patients (~82.7%) did not have to resort to outpatient treatment. The calculation of the P-value resulting from the crossing of the variables "patients having benefited from the therapy" and "infection by COVID-19" found a value of less than0.0001. SCT, through its ability to prevent, limit or repair tissue damage in the human body, could therefore prove to be a potential candidate in the fight against the COVID-19 virus, which still currently represents a scientific and medical mystery.