ReviewJOR spine2022
The involvement of immune system in intervertebral disc herniation and degeneration.
Review in JOR spine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 105 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
105 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 134 citations in OpenAlex.
- Application and mechanism of percutaneous puncture disc platelet-rich plasma injection for lumbar disc herniation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Pooled it
- The efficacy and safety of annulus fibrosus suture as adjuvant therapy for lumbar disc herniation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2025Pooled it
- Enzymatic chemonucleolysis for lumbar disc herniation-an assessment of historical and contemporary efficacy and safety: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2024Pooled it
- New evidence on the controversy over the correlation between vertebral osteoporosis and intervertebral disc degeneration: a systematic review of relevant animal studies.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2024Pooled it
- Does vertebral osteoporosis delay or accelerate lumbar disc degeneration? A systematic review.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2023Pooled it
- Spatiotemporal delivery of endplate-targeted single-atom cerium nanozyme for immune-vascular crosstalk modulation and sclerosis attenuation.Materials today. Bio · 2026Article
- Dermatome-Specific Herpes Zoster Following Corticosteroid Therapy for Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Case Report Illustrating the Immunocompromised District Theory.Clinical case reports · 2026Article
- Comparison of the predictive value of mri-based cervical endplate bone quality (C-EBQ) score and cervical vertebral bone quality (C-VBQ) score for the progression of cervical disc degeneration.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Article
- Arginase 1 as a candidate immune-metabolic biomarker in lumbar disc herniation: integrated bioinformatics, experimental validation, and clinical evidence.Journal of molecular histology · 2026Article
- An annulus fibrosus anchored nanovector reprograms osteopontin driven macrophages in preclinical disc degeneration models.Nature communications · 2026Article
- [Research on ferroptosis induced by RSL3, Erastin, and TBHP in rat intervertebral disc annulus fibrosus cells].Zhongguo xiu fu chong jian wai ke za zhi = Zhongguo xiufu chongjian waike zazhi = Chinese journal of reparative and reconstructive surgery · 2026Article
- Antioxidant Nanotherapies for Intervertebral Disk Degeneration: Progress and Prospects.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Research on the mechanism of Duhuo in treating intervertebral disc degeneration based on bioinformatics and network pharmacology.Medicine · 2026Article
- Revealing the Dynamic Association Between Lymphatic Endothelial Cell Markers and Intervertebral Disk Degeneration.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- Immuno-Inflammatory Mechanisms in the Chronification of Pain.Pain and therapy · 2026Review
- Article
- CT-guided transforaminal versus C-arm-guided intradiscal ozone injection for cervical disc herniation: a comparative cohort study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Successful Return to Elite Competition following a Foraminal Block for Minimal Far-lateral Disc Herniation at L5-S1: A Report of 2 Cases.NMC case report journal · 2026Article
- Predictive Value of Epidural Gas Spread Pattern Following Transforaminal Ozone Injection for Clinical Outcomes in Cervical Radiculopathy: A Prospective Cohort Study.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Dissecting the Genetic Basis of Low Back Pain Independent of BMI Through Genomic Structural Equation Modeling.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
45 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Intervertebral disc (IVD) herniation and degeneration contributes significantly to low back pain (LBP), of which the molecular pathogenesis is not fully understood. Disc herniation may cause LBP and radicular pain, but not all LBP patients have disc herniation. Degenerated discs could be the source of pain, but not all degenerated discs are symptomatic. We previously found that disc degeneration and herniation accompanied by inflammation. We further found that anti-inflammatory molecules blocked immune responses, alleviated IVD degeneration and pain. Based on our recent findings and the work of others, we hypothesize that immune system may play a prominent role in the production of disc herniation or disc degeneration associated pain. While the nucleus pulposus (NP) is an immune-privileged organ, the damage of the physical barrier between NP and systemic circulation, or the innervation and vascularization of the degenerated NP, on one hand exposes NP as a foreign antigen to immune system, and on the other hand presents compression on the nerve root or dorsal root ganglion (DRG), which both elicit immune responses induced by immune cells and their mediators. The inflammation can remain for a long time at remote distance, with various types of cytokines and immune cells involved in this pain-inducing process. In this review, we aim to revisit the autoimmunity of the NP, immune cell infiltration after break of physical barrier, the inflammatory activities in the DRG and the generation of pain. We also summarize the involvement of immune system, including immune cells and cytokines, in degenerated or herniated IVDs and affected DRG.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.