PT Dermama Bioteknologi Laboratorium

In COVID-19 infection caused by the Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), there is a dysregulation of the immune system response that causes cytokine storm syndrome. SARS-CoV-2 works like a hijacker (hackers), sabotaging communication between cells so that the immune system, like T-cells, kills not only infected cells but also healthy cells. This dysregulation results in hyper-inflammation which cause damage to organs, not just the lungs. This is the cause of the high mortality rate in COVID-19 patients.
Exosomes are vesicles with a size of 30-100 nanometers originating from within cells that function to communicate with other cells. Exosomes are transport containers that contain bioactive cargo: such as proteins, genetic material, and various other molecules. These containers move from cells of origin, flowing through blood vessels or other body fluids to target cells. Exosomes penetrate the cell membrane and act on various organelles within the target cell.
All cell types can produce exosomes. What differentiates them is the cargo they contain. The exosome produced by mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) contains bioactive cargo derived from mesenchymal stem cells, such as anti-inflammatory cytokines, growth factors, messengerRNA (mRNA) and microRNA (miRNA). The target cells are immune system cells, infected cells and progenitor cells from infected organs. On target immune cells, the anti-inflammatory cytokines work as immunomodulators to relieve hyper-inflammation. In infected cells, the miRNAs work to prevent viral replication by inhibiting the expression of SARS-CoV-2 virus RNA (viral mRNA silencing and degrading). In lung progenitor cells and other infected organs, the growth factors work to stimulate protein synthesis processes that function for organ regeneration.
This study is a multi-center, double-blind, randomized controlled trial (RCT) clinical trial with two arms: one intervention arm, and one control arm. The EXOSOME-MSC will be tested as adjuvant, on top of standard COVID-19 drugs. It will be injected to participants via intravenous route twice, in day-1 and day-7 of 14 days of study participation.