Letter to the Editor: Thymoquinone targets endoplasmic reticulum stress to rescue tendon stem cell identity - a new era for tendinopathy therapy

Author:
Open Access
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Tendinopathy is a chronic and degenerative tendon disorder with limited therapeutic options. Recent insights into the cellular pathogenesis of tendinopathy have revealed that tendon-derived stem cells may aberrantly differentiate into chondrocytes under micro-injury-induced endoplasmic reticulum stress. In a recent study published by Tu et al in the World Journal of Stem Cells , thymoquinone - a bioactive compound from Nigella sativa - was demonstrated to inhibit the chondrogenic differentiation of tendon-derived stem cells both in vitro and in vivo , primarily through attenuation of the protein kinase RNA-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase/eukaryotic initiation factor 2/activating transcription factor 4/CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein homologous protein pathway. This article evaluates the significance of these findings within the broader field of tendon biology, highlights methodological strengths, and discusses future research directions for translating thymoquinone into a potential therapy for tendinopathy.

This publication has 21 references indexed in Scilit: