ReviewJOR spine2025
Regenerative Potential of Extracellular Vesicles on Intervertebral Disc Degeneration: What is the EV-idence?
Review in JOR spine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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
3 citing papers in PubMed.
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.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) represent a promising cell-free regenerative therapy. Deciphering their mode and mechanism of action comes with technical and biological challenges. This scoping review presents a complementary perspective to reviews that synthesized EV therapeutic strategies in intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration. It intends to create awareness of the minimal experimental requirements defined by the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (MISEV). These have been established to facilitate robust and reproducible protocols in the rapidly expanding EV field, aiming to allow comparative studies, improve reproducibility, and interpretability. Methods: The MISEV were tailored with IVD-related considerations. Within the timeframe 2016-2025, 129 articles studying EVs in the context of IVD were identified on PubMed. From each article, experimental information on EV isolation and characterization studies, and on functional studies was reviewed for compliance to the IVD-tailored MISEV. Results: The information reporting rates were 57% for EV characterization studies and 67% for EV functional studies. Information on EV nomenclature, storage, quantification, and methodological controls for functional studies specifically needs better reporting. Most studies explore EV functionality through conditioned media processed to be enriched for EVs. These EV-enriched media represent the secretome, the entire collection of secreted molecules, including EVs and co-isolates. In functional studies, intending to study biological effects driven by the EV-cargo, inclusion of key methodological MISEV controls is essential. Conclusions: Here, we sketch and discuss the consolidated "EV-idence" of EV-mediated IVD tissue regeneration with studies that have specifically included the minimal MISEV requirements, i.e., (1) EV-depletion of serum when supplemented in culture medium and (2) inclusion of EV-depleted conditioned medium as a negative control. Although in several studies, EVs showed homeostatic effects and halted IVD degeneration, solid conclusions are constrained by the limited number of studies complying with the MISEV guidelines.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.