Publication Name	World Journal of Stem Cells
Manuscript ID	116276
Country	United Kingdom

Category	Biology
Manuscript Type	Letter to the Editor
Article Title	Thymoquinone targets endoplasmic reticulum stress to rescue tendon stem cell identity: A new era for tendinopathy therapy
Manuscript Source	Invited Manuscript
All Author List	Jin-Wei Zhang
Funding Agency and Grant Number	Funding Agency Grant Number National Natural Science Foundation of China 82170406, 81970238 The Royal Society United Kingdom IEC\NSFC\201094
Corresponding Author	Jin-Wei Zhang, Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Medical School, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Exeter, Hatherly Laboratories, Streatham Campus, Stocker Road, Exeter EX4 4PS, United Kingdom. j.zhang5@exeter.ac.uk
Key Words	Thymoquinone; Tendon-derived stem cells; Endoplasmic reticulum stress; Signaling pathway; Tendinopathy; Chondrogenic differentiation
Core Tip	This article critically analyzes the study by Tu et al, which demonstrated that tendon micro-injury activates endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress signaling through the protein kinase RNA-like ER kinase/eukaryotic initiation factor 2/activating transcription factor 4/enhancer-binding protein homologous protein pathway, thereby promoting the chondrogenic differentiation of tendon-derived stem cells. Treatment with thymoquinone markedly alleviated ER stress and suppressed aberrant differentiation both in cultured cells and an in vivo rat model of treadmill-induced tendon injury. Collectively, these findings highlight thymoquinone as a promising therapeutic candidate for the prevention and treatment of tendinopathy by targeting ER stress-mediated cellular misdifferentiation.
Citation	Zhang JW. Thymoquinone targets endoplasmic reticulum stress to rescue tendon stem cell identity: A new era for tendinopathy therapy. World J Stem Cells 2026; In press

Received	2025-11-07 08:15
Peer-Review Started	2025-11-07 08:38
First Decision by Editorial Office Director	2025-11-28 07:51
Return for Revision	2025-11-28 07:51
Revised	2025-11-30 05:06
Publication Fee Transferred
Second Decision by Editor	2026-01-12 02:40
Second Decision by Editor-in-Chief
Final Decision by Editorial Office Director	2026-01-12 12:38
Articles in Press	2026-01-12 12:38
Edit the Manuscript by Language Editor
Typeset the Manuscript

ISSN	1948-0210 (online)
Open Access	This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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