Review
Convalescent plasma therapy against the emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants: Delineation of the potentialities and risks

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsu.2021.106204Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) has been considered a potential immunotherapeutic strategy in treating various viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2.

  • Convalescent plasma provides protective effects against the SARS-CoV-2 infection via antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic, and immunomodulatory mechanisms.

  • Several clinical trials have proved or disapproved the therapeutic potentials of CPT in the treatment of COVID-19. There is a dire need for large randomized clinical trials to demonstrate the effectiveness of CPT against COVID-19.

  • The therapeutic potentials of CPT in the treatment of COVID-19 need to be reconsidered amid the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in a catastrophic pandemic and severely impacted people's livelihoods worldwide. In addition, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants has posed a severe threat to humankind. Due to the dearth of therapeutic options during the commencement of the pandemic, convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) played a significant part in the management of patients with severe form of COVID-19. Several recent studies have proposed various protective effects of CPT, such as antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic, and immunomodulatory actions, curtailing the devastating consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 infection. On the contrary, several clinical studies have raised some serious concerns about the effectiveness and reliability of CPT in the management of patients with COVID-19. The protective effects of CPT in severely ill patients are yet to be proved. Moreover, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants has raised concerns about the effectiveness of CPT against COVID-19. Therefore, to establish concrete evidence of the efficacy of CPT and adjudicate its inclusion in the management of COVID-19, an updated review of present literature is required, which could help in the development of an efficient therapeutic regimen to treat COVID-19 amid the emergence of new viral variants.

Keywords

COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2
Convalescent plasma therapy
Variants
Effectiveness
Safety

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