A Flash on Cell Therapy Strategies in Clinical Trials against SARS-CoV-2

Background: Since December 2019, an outbreak of a novel coronavirus infection has been reported, drawing immediate attention from the World Health Organization. SARS-CoV-2, as the cause of COVID-19 with extra potency of transmission, has led to global concern. Currently, more than a thousand clinical trials have focused on achieving a protective or preventive approach against the virus, among which cell-based therapies seem to be significantly applicable. Objective: We aimed to summarize cell-based therapy against COVID-19 and compare the applicable methods and possible outcomes. Methods: The current clinical trials based on cell-based therapies are summarized according to the cell sorting applications. The possible approaches, advantages, and opinions are discussed. Results and Conclusion: Cell-based therapy has already brought some hope. It needs to meet the following features: 1) The long-term protection data after treatment must be provided by stem cell investigators. 2) A design of multivalent antigens based on immunoinformatic prediction is suggested to engineer T-cell and dendritic cell-based therapies in order to deliver the most immunogenic conserved epitopes. 3) According to the sophisticated procedure, the preparation of the cells must be supported by authorities in order to decrease the cost and the time of the whole process.