In the second part of this review, we will present and discuss the main applications of USCs. These include use as a substrate to generate human induced pluripotent stem cells, but we will deeply focus on the use of USCs for cell therapy approaches with a detailed analysis depending on the targeted organ or system. Importantly, we will also focus on the applications that rely on the use of USC-derived products such as microvesicles including exosomes, which is a strategy being increasingly employed. In the last section, we will discuss the remaining barriers and challenges in the field of USC-based regenerative medicine.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a pandemic disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2), is growing at an exponential rate worldwide. Manifestations of this disease are heterogeneous; however, advanced cases often exhibit various acute respiratory distress syndrome-like symptoms, systemic inflammatory reactions, coagulopathy, and organ involvements. A common theme in advanced COVID-19 is unrestrained immune activation, classically referred to as a “cytokine storm”, as well as deficiencies in immune regulatory mechanisms such as T regulatory cells. While mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) themselves are objects of cytokine regulation, they can secrete cytokines to modulate immune cells by inducing anti-inflammatory regulatory Treg cells, macrophages and neutrophils; and by reducing the activation of T and B cells, dendritic and nature killer cells. Consequently, they have therapeutic potential for treating severe cases of COVID-19. Here we discuss the unique ability of MSCs, to act as a “living anti-inflammatory”, which can “rebalance” the cytokine/immune responses to restore equilibrium. We also discuss current MSC trials and present different concepts for optimization of MSC therapy in patients with COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome.Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), consisting primarily of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, is a group of debilitating auto-immune disorders, which also increases the risk of colitis-associated cancer. However, due to the chronic nature of the disease and inconsistent treatment outcomes of current anti-IBD drugs (e.g., approximately 30% non-responders to anti-TNFα agents), and related serious side effects, about half of all IBD patients (in millions) turn to alternative treatment options. In this regard, mucosal healing is gaining acceptance as a measure of disease activity in IBD patients as recent studies have correlated the success of mucosal healing with improved prognosis. However, despite the increasing clinical realization of the significance of the concept of mucosal healing, its regulation and means of therapeutic targeting remain largely unclear. Here, stem-cell therapy, which uses hematopoietic stem cells or mesenchymal stem cells, remains a promising option. Stem cells are the pluripotent cells with ability to differentiate into the epithelial and/or immune-modulatory cells. The over-reaching concept is that the stem cells can migrate to the damaged areas of the intestine to provide curative help in the mucosal healing process. Alexidine Moreover, by differentiating into the mature intestinal epithelial cells, the stem cells also help in restoring the barrier integrity of the intestinal lining and hence prevent the immunomodulatory induction, the root cause of the IBD. In this article, we elaborate upon the current status of the clinical management of IBD and potential role of the stem cell therapy in improving IBD therapy and patient’s quality of life.Plants of the Euphorbia genus present a wide range of therapeutic applications. This study is aimed at investigating new antidigestive enzyme agents from Euphorbia cyparissias through inhibition of lipid and carbohydrate absorption, to evaluate their potential applications for the treatment of metabolic syndrome. Lipase, phospholipase, protease, α-amylase, β-glucosidase, and xanthine oxidase activities under treatment with aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Euphorbia cyparissias were observed to evaluate the inhibitory effect of these extracts, as well as their antioxidant and cytotoxic effects. Results showed that ethanolic and aqueous extracts exhibited important inhibitory activity in a concentration-related manner on digestive enzymes, which is more effective than the commercial drugs used as controls. Results also showed that, out of the two extracts tested, the ethanolic extract presented the most promising results in inhibiting the activities of all digestive enzymes used. Moreover, the two extracts displayed a higher reducing power than that of the positive control used. The obtained results, together with previous reports in the literature, strongly suggest that Euphorbia cyparissias extracts may be natural inhibitors of the digestive enzymes and thus a potential new drug for metabolic syndrome treatment.Trastuzumab (TZM) is a humanized monoclonal antibody that has been approved for the clinical management of HER2-positive metastatic breast and gastric cancers but its use is limited by its cumulative dose and off-target cardiotoxicity. Unfortunately, till date, there is no approved antidote to this off-target toxicity. Therefore, an acute study was designed at investigating the protective potential and mechanism(s) of CVE and IGE in TZM-induced cardiotoxicity utilizing cardiac enzyme and oxidative stress markers and histopathological endpoints. 400 mg/kg/day CVE and IGE dissolved in 5% DMSO in sterile water were investigated in Wistar rats injected with 2.25 mg/kg/day/i.p. route of TZM for 7 days, using serum cTnI and LDH, complete lipid profile, cardiac tissue oxidative stress markers assays, and histopathological examination of TZM-intoxicated heart tissue. Results showed that 400 mg/kg/day CVE and IGE profoundly attenuated increases in the serum cTnI and LDH levels but caused no significant alterations in the serum lipids and weight gain pattern in the treated rats. CVE and IGE profoundly attenuated alterations in the cardiac tissue oxidative stress markers’ activities while improving TZM-associated cardiac histological lesions. These results suggest that CVE and IGE could be mediating its cardioprotection via antioxidant, free radical scavenging, and antithrombotic mechanisms, thus, highlighting the therapeutic potentials of CVE and IGE in the management of TZM-mediated cardiotoxicity.