AUTHOR=Raghav Alok , Ali Syed Ghazanfar , Jeong Goo-Bo , Gautam Kirti Amresh , Banday Shahid , Mateen Qazi Noorul , Tripathi Prashant , Giri Richa , Agarwal Saurabh , Singh Manish , Khan Haris M. TITLE=Newer Horizon of Mesenchymal Stem Cell–Based Therapy in the Management of SARS-CoV-2–Associated Mucormycosis: A Safe Hope for Future Medicine JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=12 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.738983 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.738983 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=

SARS-CoV-2–infected patients are reported to show immunocompromised behavior that gives rise to a wide variety of complications due to impaired innate immune response, cytokine storm, and thrombo-inflammation. Prolonged use of steroids, diabetes mellitus, and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) are some of the factors responsible for the growth of Mucorales in such immunocompromised patients and, thus, can lead to a life-threatening condition referred to as mucormycosis. Therefore, an early diagnosis and cell-based management cosis is the need of the hour to help affected patients overcome this severe condition. In addition, extended exposure to antifungal drugs/therapeutics is found to initiate hormonal and neurological complications. More recently, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been used to exhibit immunomodulatory function and proven to be beneficial in a clinical cell-based regenerative approach. The immunomodulation ability of MSCs in mucormycosis patient boosts the immunity by the release of chemotactic proteins. MSC-based therapy in mucormycosis along with the combination of short-term antifungal drugs can be utilized as a prospective approach for mucormycosis treatment with promising outcomes. However, preclinical and in mucormyIn mucormycosis, the hyphae of clinical trials are needed to establish the precise mechanism of MSCs in mucormycosis treatment.