Clinical remission of a critically ill COVID-19 patient treated by human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells: A case report

RATIONALE: The COVID-19 cases increased very fast in January and February 2020. The mortality among critically ill patients, especially the elder ones, is relatively high. Considering many patients died of severe inflammation response, it is urgent to develop effective therapeutic strategies for these patients. The human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) have shown good capabilities to modulate the immune response and repair the injured tissue. Therefore, investigating the potential of hUCMSCs to the treatment of COVID-19 critically ill patients is necessary. PATIENT CONCERNS: A 65-year-old woman felt fatigued and had a fever with body temperature of 38.2(°)C, coughed up white foaming sputum. After 1 day, she had chest tightness with SPO(2) of 81%, and blood pressure of 160/91 mm Hg. DIAGNOSE: According to the guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of 2019 novel coronavirus infected pneumonia (Trial 4th Edition), COVID-19 was diagnosed, based on the real-time RT-PCR test of SARS-CoV-2. INTERVENTIONS: After regular treatment for 12 days, the inflammation symptom of the patient was still very severe and the potential side effects of corticosteroid were observed. Then, allogenic hUCMSCs were given 3 times (5 × 10(7) cells each time) with a 3-day interval, together with thymosin α1 and antibiotics daily injection. OUTCOMES: After these treatments, most of the laboratory indexes and CT images showed remission of the inflammation symptom. The patient was subsequently transferred out of ICU, and the throat swabs test reported negative 4 days later. LESSONS: These results indicated the clinical outcome and good tolerance of allogenic hUCMSCs transfer.