A large group of scientists from several important research centers both in Greece and abroad including the Department of Medicine of the University of Washington (USA), the AHEPA University Hospital (Thessaloniki, Greece), and the “Georgios Papanikolaou” Hospital (Thessaloniki, Greece) conducted a randomized (2:1) clinical study in which convalescent donor-derived severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-specific T cells were administered, during Delta variant predominance, to 60 patients with severe Covid-19 in combination with standard-of-care (SOC) at the GMP unit of Genetic and of Cell Therapy of the G. Papanikolaou Hospital. The safety and efficacy of their administration were then assessed in comparison to a group of 30 patients who received only SOC (including dexamethasone and remdesivir). Administration of CoV-2-STs was safe and effective, leading to faster recovery and a higher recovery rate for patients, which was associated with an increase in circulating CoV-2-STs. Furthermore, patients who received CoV-2-STs recovered faster from T-cell lymphopenia, turned negative for inflammatory markers and viral load earlier, and showed a 53% reduction in mortality, relative to the SOC group. Collectively, this clinical study demonstrated that immunotherapy with CoV-2-STs was feasible, safe, and superior to standard therapy in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19. The important finding is that this strategy may also serve as a therapeutic platform for any new, unforeseen pandemics in the future.
Reference: Papadopoulou A, Karavalakis G, Papadopoulou E, Anagnostopoulos A, Yannaki E et al. SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell therapy for severe COVID-19: a randomized phase 1/2 trial. Nat Med. 2023 Jul 17. doi: 10.1038/s41591-023-02480-8. PMID: 37460756.