Therapeutic Modalities and Novel Approaches in Regenerative Medicine for COVID-19

Ramezankhani, Roya; Solhi, Roya; Memarnejadian, Arash; Nami, Fatemeharefeh; Hashemian, Seyed MohammadReza; Tricot, Tine; Vosough, Massoud; Verfaillie, Catherine

The recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak around the world has an enormous impact on the global health burden, threatening the lives of many individuals, and has severe socio-economic consequences. Many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have begun intensive research on different therapeutic strategies, from repurposed antiviral drugs to vaccines and monoclonal antibodies to prevent the spread of the disease and treat infected patients. Among the various strategies, advanced therapeutic approaches including cell- and gene editing-based therapeutics are also being investigated and initial results in in vitro and early phase I studies were promising, however, still further assessments are required. In this paper, we first review the underlying mechanisms for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pathogenesis and further discuss available therapeutic candidates and advanced modalities that are being currently evaluated in in vitro/in vivo models and of note in clinical trials.