New Translational Trends in Personalized Medicine: Autologous Peripheral Blood Stem Cells and Plasma for COVID-19 Patient

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), still remains a severe threat. At the time of writing this paper, the second infectious wave has caused more than 280,000 deaths all over the world. Italy was one of the first countries involved, with more than 200,000 people reported as infected and 30,000 deaths. There are no specific treatments for COVID-19 and the vaccine still remains somehow inconclusive. The world health community is trying to define and share therapeutic protocols in early and advanced clinical stages. However, numbers remain critical with a serious disease rate of 14%, ending with sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), multiple organ failure (MOF) and vascular and thromboembolic findings. The mortality rate was estimated within 2–3%, and more than double that for individuals over 65 years old; almost one patient in three dies in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Efforts for effective solutions are underway with multiple lines of investigations, and health authorities have reported success treating infected patients with donated plasma from survivors of the illness, the proposed benefit being protective antibodies formed by the survivors. Plasma transfusion, blood and stem cells, either autologous or allograft transplantation, are not novel therapies, and in this short paper, we propose therapeutic autologous plasma and peripheral blood stem cells as a possible treatment for fulminant COVID-19 infection.

Clonal hematopoiesis is associated with protection from Alzheimer's disease

Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) is a pre-malignant expansion of mutated blood stem cells that also associates with non-hematological disorders. Here, we tested whether CHIP was associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Surprisingly, we found that CHIP carriers had reduced risk of AD dementia or AD neuropathologic features in multiple cohorts. The same mutations found in blood were also detected in the microglia-enriched fraction of brain in 7 out of 8 CHIP carriers. Single-cell chromatin accessibility profiling of brain-derived nuclei in two CHIP carriers revealed that the mutated cells were indistinguishable from microglia and comprised between 42-77% of the total microglial pool. These results suggest a role for mutant, marrow-derived cells in attenuating risk of AD, possibly by supplementing a failing microglial system during aging.

A STUDY TO ASSESS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PLANNED TEACHING PROGRAMME REGARDING STEM CELLS AMONG ELIGIBLE COUPLES IN SELECTED AREAS OF AHMEDABAD

Introduction: Stem cells have tremendous promise to helping us to understand and treat a range of various diseases, injuries and other health related conditions. Their potential is evident in the use of cord blood stem cells to treat diseases of the blood, A cord blood stem cells therapy has saved the lives of thousands of children with leukemia and can be seen in the use of stem cells for tissue grafts to treat diseases or injury to the bone, skin and surface of the eye. Materials and Methods: This pre-experimental study was conducted on eligible couples with sample size of age between 15-45 years, willingness to participate in study in selected areas of Ahmedabad. The investigator adopted purposive technique to select sample. Data was collected using 4 demographic variables & 20 questionnaires regarding stem cells, its uses, diseases treated by stem cells & stem cell banking were included. A pre-test was conducted on 40 samples after which the planned teaching programme was implemented followed by the post test. Result: Data gathered was analyzed and interpreted using both experimental and inferential statistics. The mean and SD of pre-test was 5.725 and 1.3957, whereas the mean and SD of post- test was 16.25 and 1.1036, the calculated t value was greater than tabulated t value. Hence the null hypothesis was rejected and the research hypothesis was accepted. The result shows that when planned teaching program was given to eligible couples age group people, they achieve the best scores. Conclusion: This Study intends to assess the effectiveness on plan teaching program regarding stem cells among eligible couple in selected areas of Ahmedabad. This Study reveals that the post-test knowledge score is higher than the pre-test knowledge score regarding stem cells storage, stem cells banking among the eligible couple.

Umbilical cord blood stem cells transplantation in a patient with severe progressive supranuclear palsy: a case report

Background Progressive supranuclear palsy is a neurodegenerative condition that worsens over time. Given the lack of targeted treatments, patients with severe progressive supranuclear palsy have very low life expectancy. Case presentation We present a case of a 61-year-old Chinese man with severe progressive supranuclear palsy and treated with umbilical cord blood stem cells transplantation. After the umbilical cord blood stem cells therapy, his neurologic symptoms stopped deteriorating, his muscle rigidity was mildly improved, and he remains alive for more than 8 years. Conclusions Umbilical cord blood stem cells transplantation may be an alternative therapy for patients with severe progressive supranuclear palsy.

A Novel Trehalose Synthase for the Production of Trehalose and Trehalulose

Trehalose is a rare sugar of high importance in biological research, with its property to stabilize cell membrane and proteins and protect the organism from drought. It is instrumental in the cryopreservation of human cells, e.g., sperm and blood stem cells.

Co-transplantation of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells and peripheral blood stem cells in children and adolescents with refractory severe aplastic anemia

Objectives: The purpose of our study was to analyze the co-transplantation efficacy of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) and peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs), which is considered as a novel approach for refractory severe aplastic anemia (RSAA) in children and adolescents. Methods: Thirty-two children and adolescents with RSAA were retrospectively reviewed. According to the source of PBSCs, all patients were divided into two groups (matched sibling donor group and matched unrelated donor group). Engraftment, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed. Results: No adverse events related to UC-MSCs infusion occurred in all patients. The median time for neutrophil engraftment was 13 (10~23) days and 15 (11~28) days for platelet. Grade Ⅰ ~ Ⅱ acute GVHD and moderate chronic GVHD were observed in 21.88% and 12.50% of the cases. No statistically significance was observed between the MSD and MUD group on engraftment, GVHD and complications including infection and hemorrhagic cystitis. The median follow-up time was 38.60 (1.37~140.83) months. To the date of October 31th 2021, 5 died and 27 (84.38%) survived. The 5-year OS rate was not statistically significant between the MSD and MUD group (84.8% ± 10.0% vs 82.4% ± 9.2%, P = 0.674). Conclusions: The application of UC-MSCs in the treatment of RSAA in PBSC transplantation is reliable and safe, which can significantly reduce the incidence of GVHD and severe transplantation-related complications and effectively improve patients’ life quality. Therefore, the method can be used as an active treatment option for patients with RSAA.