Implications of stem cell therapy on the socio-scientific community

The novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection causes an exacerbated immune response and a cytokine storm in the patient. A heightened number of mortality and morbidity cases have been reported due to the acute respiratory distress syndrome that follows in such patients. Mesenchymal signaling cells (MSCs), owing primarily to their immunomodulatory properties, are considered an ideal alternative for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. With proven outcomes in several other clinical settings, clinicians soon opted to intensively investigate the potential of these cells. Although, with the constraints of time, this may have seemed the need of the hour, today as we step back and analyze the whole process, there lie several gaps that need to be filled. Additionally, there is a dangerous surge in the number of unregistered and unapproved “stem-cell”-based therapy facilities that need to be regulated. In this chapter, we try to identify what are the key socio-scientific concerns that need to be addressed when using MSCs for cellular therapy. We will also look into possible ways by which these breaches can be bridged and make MSCs a transparent and effective therapy.