ReviewNature reviews. Rheumatology2015
Stem cell therapy for intervertebral disc regeneration: obstacles and solutions.
Review in Nature reviews. Rheumatology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03002207 (A Prospective, Comparative Study to Evaluate Effectiveness of Repairing the Defect of Intervertebral Disc With Autologous BMSC and Gelatin Sponge After Microendoscopic Discectomy for Lumbar Disc Herniation), which is not on this map. Cited by 276 papers, 3 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.
A Prospective, Comparative Study to Evaluate Effectiveness of Repairing the Defect of Intervertebral Disc With Autologous BMSC and Gelatin Sponge After Microendoscopic Discectomy for Lumbar Disc Herniation
Who cites it
276 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 463 citations in OpenAlex.
- Stem cells and discogenic back pain.British medical bulletin · 2023Pooled it
- Extracellular Vesicles as an Emerging Treatment Option for Intervertebral Disc Degeneration: Therapeutic Potential, Translational Pathways, and Regulatory Considerations.Advanced healthcare materials · 2022Pooled it
- Intervertebral Disc Disease of the Lumbar Spine in Health Personnel with Occupational Exposure to Patient Handling-A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Allogenic bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cell-based therapy for patients with chronic low back pain: a prospective, multicentre, randomised placebo controlled trial (RESPINE study).Annals of the rheumatic diseases · 2024Trial
- A nucleic acid regulation strategy under mechanical stress for intervertebral disc degeneration treatment.Bioactive materials · 2026Article
- MnOMaterials today. Bio · 2026Article
- Article
- Large Language Models in Preclinical Spine Research: A Scoping Review and Expert Perspective on Evidence-Aware Experimental Workflows.JOR spine · 2026Article
- Surviving the Nucleus Pulposus Desert: Next-Generation Strategies for Intervertebral Disc Cell Therapy.JOR spine · 2026Article
- Bone-Targeted Therapies and Spinal Morphometry in Postmenopausal Osteoporosis: A Real-World Longitudinal Retrospective Study.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Evolving Landscape of Regenerative Therapies: Cell-Based and Cell-Free Approaches for Chronic Low Back Pain.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- ISSLS Presidential Address 2026: Building Bridges Across Generations, Continents, and Spine Science.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
- Defining the Human Nucleus Pulposus Microenvironment and Its Impact on Cell Matrix Synthesis and Metabolic Activity.JOR spine · 2026Article
- A Challenge-Oriented Review of Delivery Systems for Cell and Gene Therapies in Intervertebral Disc Degeneration.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- From Bench to Bedside: Translational Barriers in Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy for Intervertebral Disc Degeneration.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Human birth tissue products for pathological pain: mechanisms, evidence, and translational outlook.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- TGF-β/SMAD signaling maintains nucleus pulposus stem cell quiescence to protect against oxidative injury in intervertebral disc degeneration.Stem cell research & therapy · 2026Article
- Intervertebral disc progenitor cells: roles in regeneration and disease.Stem cell research & therapy · 2026Review
- Research Landscape of Stem Cell Applications in Musculoskeletal Tissue: A Scoping Review.Cells · 2026Article
- Chondroitinase Versus Papain Digestion Leads to Different Outcome for In Vitro Simulation of Degenerated Discs.JOR spine · 2026Article
216 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
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is frequently associated with low back and neck pain, which accounts for disability worldwide. Despite the known outcomes of the IVD degeneration cascade, the treatment of IVD degeneration is limited in that available conservative and surgical treatments do not reverse the pathology or restore the IVD tissue. Regenerative medicine for IVD degeneration, by injection of IVD cells, chondrocytes or stem cells, has been extensively studied in the past decade in various animal models of induced IVD degeneration, and has progressed to clinical trials in the treatment of various spinal conditions. Despite preliminary results showing positive effects of cell-injection strategies for IVD regeneration, detailed basic research on IVD cells and their niche indicates that transplanted cells are unable to survive and adapt in the avascular niche of the IVD. For this therapeutic strategy to succeed, the indications for its use and the patients who would benefit need to be better defined. To surmount these obstacles, the solution will be identified only by focused research, both in the laboratory and in the clinic.
Indexed as
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What Socratic 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 Socratic graph.