Plasma Therapy in the fight against Sars-CoV-2: what boils in the pot.
- Antonio Vitiello,
- Francesco Ferrara,
- Raffaele La Porta,
- Chiara Pelliccia
Francesco Ferrara
Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale Umbria 1
Author ProfileAbstract
The global pandemic from Sars-cov-2 has down caused thousands of deaths
worldwide, triggering a health crisis in the various countries involved,
with few precedents in history. To date there are no vaccines for
prophylaxis, and there are no antivirals directed against the virus.
Among the therapeutic options that have shown effectiveness is passive
immunization with immune plasma from convalescent patients cured of the
infection. Plasma collected from patients cured of Sars-cov-2 infection
is rich in antibodies that neutralized the pathogen. Plasma therapy has
already demonstrated its efficacy in other epidemics, such as Sars-Cov
and MERS. To date, there are limited data for its use in sars-Cov-2
infection, both for prophylaxis and treatment, but the few existing data
bode well for the scientific world. Many questions are still unresolved,
when to administer it? At what dosage? When is it most appropriate to
take the plasma from the cured patient? Are there different answers
depending on gender and age? Certainly in view of the high number of
patients infected and cured by Sars-Cov-2, there could be a high amount
of plasma from donor patients. In this article we want to give an
overview on a current and important topic in the perspective of the
battle against the new Sars-Cov-2, analysing the therapeutic successes
in past epidemics, the clinical data currently available, the future
prospect and an expert opinion.08 May 2020Submitted to British Journal of Pharmacology 11 May 2020Submission Checks Completed
11 May 2020Assigned to Editor