Immune Modulation by Exosomes in COVID-19

COVID-19 Clinical Trial

— IMECOV19  

Official title:

Immune Modulation by Stem Cell Derived Exosomes in Critically Ill COVID-19

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05191381
• Other study ID #: Lung fibrosis in COVID19
• Status: Recruiting
• Start date: December 22, 2021
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2026

Study information

• Verified date: January 2024
• Source: University of Ulm
• Contact: Manfred Weiss, MD
• Phone: +49(0)731500
• Email: manfred.weiss[@]uniklinik-ulm.de
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational [Patient Registry]

Clinical Trial Summary

Following whole blood stimulation with mesenchymal stem cell derived exosomes, immune phenotype, cytokine release and mRNA expression patterns from critically ill patients with COVID-19 will be determined.

Description:

Critically ill patients with COVID-19 may develop lung failure and require extracorporal oxygenation due to hyperinflammation and progressive lung fibrosis. The anti-inflammatory and immune modulatory function of mesenchymal stem cells will be investigated by whole blood stimulation experiments using stem cell derived exosomes. Exosome preparations have been characterized by miRNA and protein expression patterns and suggest their tissue regenerative capacity.

The hypothesis of the present study is that mesenchymal stem cell derived exosomes attenuate inflammation and support anti-fibrotic pathways.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 40
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2026
• Est. primary completion date: July 31, 2025
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 90 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Critically ill COVID-19 patients with lung dysfunction

• COVID-19 WHO severity degree >= 4, ARDS (WHO Definition 13 March 2020)

• Body weight > 50 kg

• Informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnant or breast feeding women

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• COVID-19
• Critical Illness
• Cytokine Release Syndrome
• Lung Fibrosis
• Pulmonary Fibrosis

Intervention

Biological:
• Application of exosomes in a whole blood assay
Co-incubation of patient-derived whole blood samples with mesenchymal stem cell derived exosomes and read-out of biomarkers, RNA and immune phenotypes after 24h.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Germany	Ulm University Hospital, Clinic of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine	Ulm

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Ulm

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Germany, 

References & Publications (17)

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Di Rocco G, Baldari S, Toietta G. Towards Therapeutic Delivery of Extracellular Vesicles: Strategies for In Vivo Tracking and Biodistribution Analysis. Stem Cells Int. 2016;2016:5029619. doi: 10.1155/2016/5029619. Epub 2016 Nov 23. — View Citation

Geistlinger J, Du W, Groll J, Liu F, Hoegel J, Foehr KJ, Pasquarelli A, Schneider EM. P2RX7 genotype association in severe sepsis identified by a novel Multi-Individual Array for rapid screening and replication of risk SNPs. Clin Chim Acta. 2012 Jan 18;413(1-2):39-47. doi: 10.1016/j.cca.2011.05.023. Epub 2011 May 25. — View Citation

Giamarellos-Bourboulis EJ, Netea MG, Rovina N, Akinosoglou K, Antoniadou A, Antonakos N, Damoraki G, Gkavogianni T, Adami ME, Katsaounou P, Ntaganou M, Kyriakopoulou M, Dimopoulos G, Koutsodimitropoulos I, Velissaris D, Koufargyris P, Karageorgos A, Katrini K, Lekakis V, Lupse M, Kotsaki A, Renieris G, Theodoulou D, Panou V, Koukaki E, Koulouris N, Gogos C, Koutsoukou A. Complex Immune Dysregulation in COVID-19 Patients with Severe Respiratory Failure. Cell Host Microbe. 2020 Jun 10;27(6):992-1000.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2020.04.009. Epub 2020 Apr 21. — View Citation

Gotts JE, Matthay MA. Endogenous and exogenous cell-based pathways for recovery from acute respiratory distress syndrome. Clin Chest Med. 2014 Dec;35(4):797-809. doi: 10.1016/j.ccm.2014.08.015. Epub 2014 Sep 24. — View Citation

Haberle H, Magunia H, Lang P, Gloeckner H, Korner A, Koeppen M, Backchoul T, Malek N, Handgretinger R, Rosenberger P, Mirakaj V. Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy for Severe COVID-19 ARDS. J Intensive Care Med. 2021 Jun;36(6):681-688. doi: 10.1177/0885066621997365. Epub 2021 Mar 5. — View Citation

J. Bindja, M. E. Weiss, M. Schmolz, G. M. Stein, J. Mapes, N. Schneiderhan-Marra, T. O. Joos, E. M. Schneider. Synthetic ligands against TLR2-9 in TruCulture™ - whole blood assays distinguish clinical stages of SIRS (trauma) and sepsis.Trauma, Shock, Inflammation and Sepsis.Trauma, Shock, Inflammation and Sepsis - TSIS 2010; 55 - 63

Lai RC, Arslan F, Lee MM, Sze NS, Choo A, Chen TS, Salto-Tellez M, Timmers L, Lee CN, El Oakley RM, Pasterkamp G, de Kleijn DP, Lim SK. Exosome secreted by MSC reduces myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury. Stem Cell Res. 2010 May;4(3):214-22. doi: 10.1016/j.scr.2009.12.003. Epub 2010 Jan 4. — View Citation

Leng Z, Zhu R, Hou W, Feng Y, Yang Y, Han Q, Shan G, Meng F, Du D, Wang S, Fan J, Wang W, Deng L, Shi H, Li H, Hu Z, Zhang F, Gao J, Liu H, Li X, Zhao Y, Yin K, He X, Gao Z, Wang Y, Yang B, Jin R, Stambler I, Lim LW, Su H, Moskalev A, Cano A, Chakrabarti S, Min KJ, Ellison-Hughes G, Caruso C, Jin K, Zhao RC. Transplantation of ACE2- Mesenchymal Stem Cells Improves the Outcome of Patients with COVID-19 Pneumonia. Aging Dis. 2020 Mar 9;11(2):216-228. doi: 10.14336/AD.2020.0228. eCollection 2020 Apr. — View Citation

Mehta P, McAuley DF, Brown M, Sanchez E, Tattersall RS, Manson JJ; HLH Across Speciality Collaboration, UK. COVID-19: consider cytokine storm syndromes and immunosuppression. Lancet. 2020 Mar 28;395(10229):1033-1034. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30628-0. Epub 2020 Mar 16. No abstract available. — View Citation

Monsel A, Zhu YG, Gudapati V, Lim H, Lee JW. Mesenchymal stem cell derived secretome and extracellular vesicles for acute lung injury and other inflammatory lung diseases. Expert Opin Biol Ther. 2016 Jul;16(7):859-71. doi: 10.1517/14712598.2016.1170804. Epub 2016 Apr 12. — View Citation

Sanders J., Schneider E.M. How severe RNA virus infections such as SARS-CoV-2 disrupt tissue and organ barriers-Reconstitution by mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes. Tissue Barriers in Disease, Injury and Regeneration 2021:95-113. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-

Shah TG, Predescu D, Predescu S. Mesenchymal stem cells-derived extracellular vesicles in acute respiratory distress syndrome: a review of current literature and potential future treatment options. Clin Transl Med. 2019 Sep 12;8(1):25. doi: 10.1186/s40169-019-0242-9. — View Citation

Shi L, Huang H, Lu X, Yan X, Jiang X, Xu R, Wang S, Zhang C, Yuan X, Xu Z, Huang L, Fu JL, Li Y, Zhang Y, Yao WQ, Liu T, Song J, Sun L, Yang F, Zhang X, Zhang B, Shi M, Meng F, Song Y, Yu Y, Wen J, Li Q, Mao Q, Maeurer M, Zumla A, Yao C, Xie WF, Wang FS. Effect of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells on lung damage in severe COVID-19 patients: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial. Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2021 Feb 10;6(1):58. doi: 10.1038/s41392-021-00488-5. — View Citation

Shi L, Wang L, Xu R, Zhang C, Xie Y, Liu K, Li T, Hu W, Zhen C, Wang FS. Mesenchymal stem cell therapy for severe COVID-19. Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2021 Sep 8;6(1):339. doi: 10.1038/s41392-021-00754-6. — View Citation

Shi Y, Wang Y, Shao C, Huang J, Gan J, Huang X, Bucci E, Piacentini M, Ippolito G, Melino G. COVID-19 infection: the perspectives on immune responses. Cell Death Differ. 2020 May;27(5):1451-1454. doi: 10.1038/s41418-020-0530-3. Epub 2020 Mar 23. No abstract available. — View Citation

Yang X, Yu Y, Xu J, Shu H, Xia J, Liu H, Wu Y, Zhang L, Yu Z, Fang M, Yu T, Wang Y, Pan S, Zou X, Yuan S, Shang Y. Clinical course and outcomes of critically ill patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a single-centered, retrospective, observational study. Lancet Respir Med. 2020 May;8(5):475-481. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30079-5. Epub 2020 Feb 24. Erratum In: Lancet Respir Med. 2020 Apr;8(4):e26. — View Citation

* Note: There are 17 references in all — Click here to view all references

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Cytokine profile in supernatants	Quantification of pro- and anti-inflammatory biomarkers after 24 hours of whole blood culture	24 hours, 1 year
Secondary	Immune phenotyping	Immune phenotypes related to type I interferon signaling	1 year
Secondary	Genetic predisposition to hyperinflammation	Determination of functional single nucleotide polymorphisms of inflammatory genes and receptors	1 year