Stem Cell Educator Therapy Treat the Viral Inflammation in COVID-19

June 25, 2021 updated by: Throne Biotechnologies Inc.

Clinical Application of Stem Cell Educator Therapy for the Treatment of Viral Inflammation Caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Currently, the growing epidemic of a new coronavirus infectious disease (Covid-19) is wreaking havoc worldwide, which is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). SARS-CoV-2 is a RNA virus that display high similarity in both genomic and proteomic profiling with SARS-CoV that first emerged in humans in 2003 in China. Therefore, preventing and controlling the pandemic occurrences are extremely urgent as a global top priority. Due to the lack of effective antiviral drugs, patients may be treated by only addressing their symptoms such as reducing fever. Clinical autopsies from SARS-CoV-infected patients demonstrated that there were major pathological changes in the lungs, immune organs, and small systemic blood vessels with vasculitis. However, the detection of SARS-CoV were primarily found in the lung and trachea/bronchus, but was undetectable in spleen, lymph nodes, bone marrow, heart and aorta, highlighting the overreaction of immune responses induced by viral infection were really harmful, resulting in the pathogenesis of lungs, immune organs, and small systemic blood vessels. To this respect, immune modulation strategy may be potentially beneficial to enhance anti-viral immunity and efficiently reduce the viral load, improve clinical outcomes, expedite the patient recovery, and decline the rate of mortality in patients after being infected with SARS-CoV-2. Tianhe Stem Cell Biotechnologies Inc. has developed a novel globally-patented Stem Cell Educator (SCE) technology designed to reverse the autoimmune response in Type 1 diabetes (T1D), Alopecia Areata (AA) and other autoimmune diseases. SCE therapy uses human multipotent cord blood stem cells (CB-SC) from human cord blood. Their properties distinguish CB-SC from other known stem cell types, including mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). Several clinical studies show that SCE therapy functions via CB-SC induction of immune tolerance in autoimmune T cells and restore immune balance and homeostasis in patients with T1D, AA and other inflammation-associated diseases. To correct the overreaction of overreaction of immune responses, the investigators plan to treat SARS-CoV-2 patients with Stem Cell Educator therapy.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This is a prospective, two-arm, partially masked, single center clinical study to assess the safety, feasibility, and efficacy of SCE therapy for the treatment of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Patients will be evaluated by the study principal investigator or co-investigators. Informed consent will be obtained at the initial screening visit. Subjects who meet all criteria will be scheduled for treatment. All enrolled subjects will receive one treatment with the SCE therapy consisting of a single session of mononuclear cells (MNC) collection by apheresis of blood. The MNC product will be treated with the SCE, and followed by an infusion intravenously back to the patient. The SCE-treated subjects will be evaluated according to the schedules of follow-up studies within 4 weeks.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

20

Phase

  • Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 60 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Adult patients (18 years)
  2. Must have a clinical diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, with at least one of clinical symptoms (e.g., fever ≥38°C, fatigue, cough) and a positive result by the reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing
  3. Patients must not have received any antiviral treatments known to affect SARS-CoV-2
  4. Patients must agree that they are not permitted to use any other treatment to affect SARS-CoV-2 during a period of 6 months after undergoing SCE therapy
  5. Adequate venous access for apheresis
  6. Ability to provide informed consent
  7. For female patients only, willingness to use FDA-recommended birth control (http://www.fda.gov/downloads/ForConsumers/ByAudience/ForWomen/FreePublications/UCM356451.pdf) until 6 months post treatment.
  8. Must agree to comply with all study requirements and be willing to complete all study visits

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. AST or ALT 2 > x upper limit of normal.
  2. Abnormal bilirubin (total bilirubin > 1.2 mg/dL, direct bilirubin > 0.4 mg/dL)
  3. Creatinine > 2.0 mg/dl.
  4. Known coronary artery disease or EKG suggestive of coronary artery disease unless cardiac clearance for apheresis is obtained from a cardiologist.
  5. Known active infection such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, or Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
  6. Pregnancy assessed by a positive serum pregnancy test or breastfeeding mothers
  7. Use of immunosuppressive medication within one month of enrollment including but not limited to cyclosporine, tacrolimus, sirolimus, and chemotherapy.
  8. Anticoagulation other than ASA.
  9. Hemoglobin < 10 g/dl or platelets < 100 k/ml
  10. Is unable or unwilling to provide informed consent
  11. Presence of any other physical or psychological medical condition that, in the opinion of the investigator, would preclude participation

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Stem Cell Educator therapy treat patients with SARS-CoV-2
SCE therapy circulates a patient's blood through a blood cell separator, briefly cocultures the patient's immune cells with adherent CB-SC in vitro, and returns the "educated" autologous immune cells to the patient's circulation.
Combination product: Stem Cell Educator-Treated Mononuclear Cells Apheresis
SCE therapy circulates a patient's blood through a blood cell separator, briefly cocultures the patient's immune cells with adherent CB-SC in vitro, and returns the "educated" autologous immune cells to the patient's circulation.
No Intervention: Conventional treatment of patients with SARS-CoV-2
Patients will receive the regular treatments by only addressing their symptoms such as reducing fever and cough.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Determine the number of Covid-19 patients who were unable to complete SCE Therapy
Time Frame: 4 weeks
The feasibility will be evaluated by the number of Covid-19 patients who were unable to complete SCE Therapy.
4 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Examine the percentage of activated T cells after SCE therapy by flow cytometry
Time Frame: 4 weeks
Measurements of immune markers' changes will be preformed by flow cytometry such as activated T cells. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) will be collected at 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 28 day post the SCE therapy.
4 weeks
Assess the percentage of Th17 cells after SCE therapy by flow cytometry
Time Frame: 4 weeks
Measurements of immune marker's changes will be preformed by flow cytometry such as the percentage of Th17 cells. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) will be collected at 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 28 day post the SCE therapy.
4 weeks
Chest imaging changes by computed tomography (CT) scan of the chest
Time Frame: 4 weeks
Patients will be monitored for their chest imaging every 3 - 5 days for 4 weeks after receiving SCE therapy.
4 weeks
Quantification of the SARS-CoV-2 viral load by real time RT-PCR
Time Frame: 4 weeks
To determine the viral load by real time RT-PCR, samples of blood, sputum, nose / throat swab will be collected from patients during the follow-up studies after receiving SCE therapy.
4 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Throne Biotechnologies Inc.

Investigators

  • Study Director: Heng Li, MD,PhD, Throne Biotechnologies Inc.

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Anticipated)

November 10, 2021

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

April 9, 2022

Study Completion (Anticipated)

June 10, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 28, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 5, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

March 6, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 30, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 25, 2021

Last Verified

June 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2020-TH-001

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

Yes

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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