A risk assessment study of SARS-CoV-2 propagation in the manufacturing of cellular products

The potential infection of cellular therapies by SARS-CoV-2 present high risks, as the target patients for these treatments are often immunocompromised or have chronic diseases associated with a higher risk of serious illness and death by COVID-19. The multicellular tropism of this virus presents challenges for the manufacturing of cell therapies, whereby the material could potentially become infected at the source or during cell processing. In this review we assess the risk of a SARS-CoV-2 propagation in cell types used to date in cellular therapies. Altogether, the risk of SARS-CoV-2 contamination of cellular products remains low. This risk should be evaluated on an individual basis, considering ACE2 and TMPRSS2 expression, existing literature regarding the susceptibility to infection, and single cell RNA sequencing data of COVID-19 patients. This analysis should ideally be performed for both the cells being manufactured and the cells used to produce the vector to ensure patient safety.