Immunoregulatory Therapy for 2019-nCoV

Overview

Sepsis, including viral infections, are major causes of death worldwide. Studies show that in 2017, the number of sepsis patients worldwide reached as high as 48.9 million, of which 11 million patients died. Studies in China also showed that more than 1 million patients died of sepsis in 2015. Previous studies have suggested that sepsis are often secondary to excessive inflammatory response syndrome. However, treatment measures targeting excessive inflammatory response failed to effectively improve the prognosis of patients. PD-1 and PD-L1 are key mediators in T cell depletion in sepsis patients. Therefore, the investigators try to performe a clinical research to investigate the efficacy of PD-1 and thymosin in patients with severe pneumonia associated with lymphocytopenia in 2019 novel coronavirus infection.

Sepsis, including viral infections, are major causes of death worldwide. Studies show that in 2017, the number of sepsis patients worldwide reached as high as 48.9 million, of which eleven million patients died. Studies in China also showed that more than one million patients died of sepsis in 2015. Therefore, how to effectively reduce the mortality of patients with sepsis has become a focus of clinical and basic research. Previous studies have suggested that sepsis are often secondary to excessive inflammatory response syndrome. However, treatment measures targeting excessive inflammatory response failed to effectively improve the prognosis of patients. The reason is that sepsis-related immune dysfunction can increase the risk of secondary infection and even affect the fatality rate. The immune checkpoint pathway is the endogenous component of the immune system, which is responsible for checking the immune response and keeping it in a normal physiological state. Tumor cells can evade host recognition through this pathway. One of these immunocheckpoint pathways is the PD-1 and PD-L1 pathways. PD-1 is a receptor expressed on the surface of T cells and ACTS as a negative regulator of T cell function. Monoclonal antibody blocking the activity of PD-1 can successfully reduce tumor load and has been widely used in the clinical treatment of various tumors. The immune imbalance in patients with sepsis has many similarities tumors. PD-1 and PD-L1 are key mediators in T cell depletion in sepsis patients. Animal models have shown that blocking PD-1 or PD-L1 can prevent T cell death, regulate cytokine production, reduce organ dysfunction and reduce death in sepsis. Previous study showed the clinical safety of anti-PD-1 antibody in sepsis patients through randomized, placebo-controlled trials. Thymosin has also been proved to regulate cellular immunity in sepsis patients. Some studies have shown that thymosin can significantly reduce the mortality of sepsis patients. At present, phase III clinical research is in progress to further clarify the role of thymosin in patients with sepsis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of PD-1 and thymosin in patients with severe pneumonia associated with lymphocytopenia in 2019 novel coronavirus infection.