Table 5 Overview of the regulatory mechanisms of the miRNAs of the included 22 studies

Feng et al. [47]

miR-6924-5p

Increase in miR-6924-5p resulted in significant decrease in osteoclastogenic markers

Sun et al. [53]

let-7

Increase in miR-let-7 resulted in significantly reduced protection of hTDSCs

Ge et al. [42]

miR-6791-5p, miR-4632-5p, miR-4739, miR-1285-3p, miR-6803-5p, mir-6752-5p, miR-4763-3p, miR-3960, miR-6089, miR-4459, miR-1915-3p, miR-6775-5p, miR-2861, miR-328-5p, miR-4685-5p, miR-1237-5p, miR-1273 g-3p, miR-6511b-3p, miR-6765-5p, miR-6722-3p, miR-939-5p, miR-6756-5p, miR-6724, miR-5787, miR-6889-5p, miR-6763-3p, miR-762, miR-1538, miR-1268a, miR-1268b, miR-5095, miR-5096, miR-6727-5p, miR-619-5p, miR-1273 h-5p

No statement about miRNA expression

Plachel et al. [41]

Serum in RCT vs healthy and RCT vs tendinopathy: miR-19b-3p, miR-192-5p, miR-25-3p, miR-19a-3p, miR-18b-5p, miR-93-5p

Serum in tendinopathy/RCT vs. healthy: miR-30a-5p, miR-324-3p, miR-210-3p, miR-140-3p, miR-425-5p, miR-222-3p

Serum RCT vs. healthy: miR-29a-3p, miR-29c-3p

Biopsy: miR-29a-3p, miR-29c-3p, miR-30a-5p, miR-140-3p, miR-192-5p

All miRNAs were significantly downregulated

Xiao et al. [57]

miR-29a

Increase in miR-29a mimics leads to significant down-regulation of BMP2 and BMP12

Thankam et al. [55]

miR-145-5p, miR-99a-5p, miR-100-5p, miR-150-5p, miR-193b-3p, miR-103a-3p, miR-31-5p, miR-195-5p, miR-497-5p, miR-15a-5p, miR-16-5p, let-7b-5p, miR-297

All miRNAs significantly downregulated except miR-297, which was significantly upregulated

Hall et al. [43]

Tendinopathic tendons: miR-199b-5p, miR-26a-5p, miR-532-5p, miR-199a-5p, miR-29a-3p, miR-92a-3p, miR-22-3p, miR-191-5p, miR-10a-5p, miR-199b-3p, miR-199a-3p, miR-126-3p, let-7i-5p, miR-30c-5p, let-7 g-5p, miR-30d-5p, miR-151a-3p

Healthy tendons: miR-140-5p, miR-222-3p, let-7e-5p, miR-100-5p,

All miRNAs were significantly downregulated

Ge et al. [48]

miR-148a-3p

miR-148a-3p significantly upregulated in tendinopathy

Thankam et al. [40]

235 miRNAs, of which the 10 most down-regulated were: miR-191-5p, miR-361-5p, miR-1273 g-3p, miR-99b-5p, miR-145-5p, miR-99a-5p, miR-100-5p, miR-23b-3p, miR-425-5p, miR-151a-3p

The 10 strongest upregulated: miR-5001-5p, miR-8071, miR-6723-5p, miR-4467, miR-6870-5p, miR-7150, miR-6124, miR-297, miR-4668-5p, miR-8075

Here: also let-7b-5p as well as the miR-25-3p, miR-29a-3p, miR-532-5p, miR-199a-5p and the miR-140-3p significantly downregulated

Han et al. [49]

miR-217

miR-217 significantly increased in old tendons

Leal et al. [44]

miR-29a-3p, miR-29b-3p, miR-29a-5p

Significant inverse correlation with MMPs. No statement about miRNA expression

Brown et al. [46]

miR-608

If MIR608 gene present, significantly lower risk of suffering an Achilles tendon injury

Lu et al. [50]

miR-29b-3p

Increase in miR-29b-3p resulted in a negative effect on tenogenic differentiation

Thankam et al. [54]

miR-125a-5p, miR-145-5p, miR-151a-3p, miR-139-5p, miR-24-3p, miR-130a-3p, miR-155-5p, miR-21-5p, miR-29a-3p, miR-498, miR-132-3p, miR-221-3p, miR-130b-3p, miR-25-3p, miR-337-5p, let-7b-5p, miR-382-5p, miR-199a-5p, miR-140-3p, miR-532-5p, miR-122-5p

All miRNAs, except for miRNA-498, were significantly downregulated

Wang et al. [56]

miR-124

Increase in miR-124 has a negative effect on tendon healing

Hu et al. [60]

miR-138

Increase in miR-138  significantly decreases osteogenic differentiation

Chen et al. [59]

miR-140-5p

Overexpression of miR-140-5p results in significantly reduced PIN1- expression

Millar et al. [51]

miR-29a

Increase in miR-29a resulted in a significant decrease in collagen-3 production

Cai et al. [58]

miR-499, miR-200B, miR-200C, miR-429, miR-149, miR-507, miR-144, miR-502, miR-519C, miR-519B, miR-519A, miR-150, miR-520G, miR-520H, miR-21

No statement about miRNA expression

Peffers et al. [52]

miR-1245A

Significant down-regulation in old tendons compared to young tendons

Poulsen et al. [61]

miR-28-5p

Increase in miR-28-5p leads to apoptosis of tenocytes

Abrahams et al. [45]

miR-608

No statement about miRNA expression