Inflammation characteristics and anti-inflammation treatment with tocilizumab of severe/critical COVID-19 patients: A retrospective cohort study.

The efficacy of tocilizumab on the prognosis of severe/critical COVID-19 patients is still controversial so far. We aimed to delineate the inflammation characteristics of severe/critical COVID-19 patients and determine the impact of tocilizumab on hospital mortality. Here, we performed a retrospective cohort study which enrolled 727 severe or critical inpatients (≥18 years old) with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from Huoshenshan Hospital (Wuhan, China), among which 50 patients received tocilizumab. This study confirmed that most recovered patients manifested relatively normal inflammation levels at admission, whereas most of the deceased cases presented visibly severe inflammation at admission and even progressed into extremely aggravated inflammation before their deaths, proved by some extremely high concentrations of interleukin-6, procalcitonin, C-reactive protein and neutrophil count. Moreover, based on the Cox proportional-hazards models before or after propensity score matching, we demonstrated that tocilizumab treatment could lessen mortality by gradually alleviating excessive inflammation and meanwhile continuously enhancing the levels of lymphocytes within 14 days for severe/critical COVID-19 patients, indicating potential effectiveness for treating COVID-19.

Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of using human menstrual blood-derived mesenchymal stromal cells in treating severe and critically ill COVID-19 patients: An exploratory clinical trial.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was identified in December 2019 and has subsequently spread worldwide. Currently, there is no effective method to cure COVID-19. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) may be able to effectively treat COVID-19, especially for severe and critical patients. Menstrual blood-derived MSCs have recently received much attention due to their superior proliferation ability and their lack of ethical problems. Forty-four patients were enrolled from January to April 2020 in a multicenter, open-label, nonrandomized, parallel-controlled exploratory trial. Twenty-six patients received allogeneic, menstrual blood-derived MSC therapy, and concomitant medications (experimental group), and 18 patients received only concomitant medications (control group). The experimental group was treated with three infusions totaling 9 × 107 MSCs, one infusion every other day. Primary and secondary endpoints related to safety and efficacy were assessed at various time points during the 1-month period following MSC infusion. Safety was measured using the frequency of treatment-related adverse events (AEs). Patients in the MSC group showed significantly lower mortality (7.69% died in the experimental group vs 33.33% in the control group; P = .048). There was a significant improvement in dyspnea while undergoing MSC infusion on days 1, 3, and 5. Additionally, SpO2 was significantly improved following MSC infusion, and chest imaging results were improved in the experimental group in the first month after MSC infusion. The incidence of most AEs did not differ between the groups. MSC-based therapy may serve as a promising alternative method for treating severe and critical COVID-19.

Nutritional Support and Clinical Outcome of Severe and Critical Patients With COVID-19 Pneumonia.

Background: In 2020, a novel coronavirus has spread throughout the world. More than four hundred thousand people have died of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia, most of which were severe and critical patients. No effective antiviral treatment has been verified thus far. Nutrition support has become one of the important treatments for severe and critical patients. Methods: In this retrospective study, 26 severe patients and 22 critical patients with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled. We recorded the diet and nutritional treatments in severe and critical patients. Baseline characteristics and clinical outcomes of severe and critical patients were also collected. Results: Average calorie intake of severe patients (19.3 kcal/kg/d) was higher than critical patients (15.3 kcal/kg/d) (P = 0.04). Protein intake was similar in the two groups (0.65 and 0.62 g/kg per day, respectively; P = 0.29). There was no significant difference in the median duration of viral shedding between the severe and critical patients (P = 0.354). Conclusions: A permissive underfeeding strategy that restricts non-protein calories but preserves protein intake is feasible for critical patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia. Viral shedding duration of critical patients was the same as severe patients who received standard feeding. Nevertheless, evidence of the conclusion is not sufficient because of small sample size. To show the real clinical benefit of permissive low-calorie and adequate protein intake in critical SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia patients, a large and pragmatic randomized controlled trial is needed.