Anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 effect of extracellular vesicles released from mesenchymal stem cells

As of 10 December 2021, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) caused by SARS‐CoV‐2 accounted for 267 million people with up to 5.3 million deaths worldwide (https://covid19.who.int). Since late 2019, much progress has been made in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic, including the rapid developments of effective vaccines and the treatment guidelines consisting of antiviral drugs, immunomodulators, and critical care support (https://covid19.who.int). However, SARS‐CoV‐2 evolves over time as its genome has a high mutation rate that leads to reasonable concerns of breakthrough infection due to immune escape and resistant strain emergence under antiviral pressure (Lipsitch et al., 2021; Szemiel et al., 2021). A newly emerging Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant rings alarms around the globe that, perhaps, the COVID‐19 war has just begun. Relentless efforts should be made to advance our knowledge and treatment regimens against COVID‐19. These included studies of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy that aimed to mitigate cytokine storm and promote tissue repair in severely ill patients with COVID‐19 pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (Hashemian et al., 2021; Meng et al., 2020; Zhu et al., 2021). Nevertheless, as extensively discussed in a recent review by Dr. Phillip W. Askenase of Yale University School of Medicine, the immunomodulatory and regenerative effects of MSC therapy are mediated through MSC‐derived extracellular vesicles (MSC‐EVs) (Askenase, 2020), while the use of MSC‐EVs has less safety concerns of thromboembolism, arrhythmia and malignant transformation. In this direction, MSC‐EV investigations for COVID‐19 treatment would be more appealing and undeniable if MSC‐EVs also exhibit anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 effects. A previous study revealed that MSC‐EVs pertained antiviral activity against influenza virus in a preclinical model (Khatri et al., 2018). It is known that MSCs are highly resistant to viral infections (Wu et al., 2018), including SARS‐CoV‐2 (Avanzini et al., 2021). We, therefore, hypothesized that the EVs released from MSCs could inhibit SARS‐CoV‐2 infection.