Infographic: Reporting the right information for stem cell studies is important.

There is great enthusiasm for the use of biologic therapies to treat a range of musculoskeletal injuries and pathologies.[1,2] The ability for mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to differentiate into multiple cell types and release pro-regenerative growth factors holds great promise for musculoskeletal tissue engineering.[3,4] However, their clinical benefits are not yet clear. A large number of factors including donor variables, tissue source, processing and laboratory conditions, and pathology timing influence the effect of biologic therapies.[5-7] Many emerging clinical trials evaluating biologics do not report sufficient scientific details, including processing and characterization, which may critically impact outcome.[8] Inadequate reporting of scientific details limits the readers’ ability to interpret findings, makes replication by others challenging and prevents comparison across studies.[9]

To encourage improved reporting, minimum standards of reporting specific to stem cells have recently been developed.[10] In an international effort by clinicians and scientists, a consensus on the minimum reporting guidelines for clinical studies evaluating MSCs was achieved using Delphi Consensus Methods (so called Minimum Information for Biologics or MIBO).[10] Adoption of such checklists will help improve experimental transparency and repeatability, promote standardization and encourage a wider collaborative effort.