Objective: This study aimed to present the case of a boy with acute distress syndrome (ARDS) treated with low-dose umbilical cord blood (UCB) therapy and explore the underlying possible mechanism.
Methods: A 7-year-old boy with severe Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and severe ARDS was treated with allogeneic UCB as salvage therapy.
Results: The patient did not improve after being treated with lung protective ventilation, pulmonary surfactant replacement, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for 30 days. However, his disease reversed 5 days after allogeneic UCB infusion, and he weaned from ECMO after 7 days of infusion. Bioinformatics confirmed that his Toll-like receptor (TLR) was abnormal before UCB infusion. However, after the infusion, his immune system was activated and repaired, and the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway was recovered.
Conclusion: Allogenic UCB could treat ARDS by repairing the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway, thereby achieving stability of the immune system.
Keywords: Acute respiratory distress syndrome; Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia; Umbilical cord blood.
© 2021. The Author(s).