INTERVIEW
To best fight against the coronavirus epidemic, researchers are multiplying the tracks and experiments, while no treatment has yet been validated. On Thursday, a trial was launched at La Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital to determine if injecting certain cells from the umbilical cord would reduce lesions in the lungs of patients suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome . Guest Thursday from Without an appointment, on Europe 1, Philippe Ménasché, cardiac surgeon at the Georges-Pompidou European hospital, specified the particular properties of these cells, and the course of this trial.
Cells with anti-inflammatory properties
These cells are not found in the blood of the umbilical cord but “in a jelly, Wharton’s jelly, which surrounds the vessels”, explains the specialist at the microphone of Mélanie Gomez. They have, he says, “strong anti-inflammatory properties, as well as properties capable of regulating the immune system”. However, “in these respiratory distresses due to Covid-19, which lead a certain number of patients in intensive care, there is a very strong inflammation of the pulmonary tissue. It therefore seemed logical to examine the tracks of these cells”, concludes Philippe Menasche.
In addition, these stem cells have already been used “in many diseases which include an inflammatory component”, further develops the cardiac surgeon, such as Lupus, brain pathologies or liver diseases, or “complications of bone marrow transplants that we practice to treat blood diseases. ”
A “relatively low” risk
As always in this kind of test, “the major element is the benefit-risk ratio”, explains Philippe Ménasché. However, for the moment, “if the benefit remains to be demonstrated, the risk seems to us relatively low”, he adds, “because all the tests have consistently demonstrated the excellent tolerance to these cells and the ‘absence, in general, of undesirable effects “.
Objective: promote the repair of lung tissue
The test injections are carried out on patients suffering from severe complications, “intubated and ventilated patients with severe respiratory distress, in whom the inflammatory component is evident”, specifies Philippe Ménasché. The latter therefore receive three injections, all separated by 48 hours, by an intravenous infusion.
The researchers hope these cells will help improve the condition of patients. “The objective is to improve them, to try to reduce this inflammatory response a little, and to promote the repair of lung tissue”, explains the guest from Europe 1. “If, for these patients, who are broken down on average between 15 days and three weeks, we could gain a few days of ventilation, we would reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with these very invasive therapies. ”
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