Tendon injuries are one of the most common musculoskeletal disorders that cause considerable morbidity and significantly compromise the patients’ quality of life. The innate limited regenerative capacity of tendon poses a substantial treating challenge for clinicians. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a family of small non-coding RNAs that play a vital role in orchestrating many biological processes through post-transcriptional regulation. Increasing evidence reveals that miRNA-based therapeutics may serve as an innovative strategy for the treatment of tendon pathologies. In this review, we briefly present miRNA biogenesis, the role of miRNAs in tendon cell biology and their involvement in tendon injuries, followed by a summary of current miRNA-based approaches in tendon tissue engineering with a special focus on attenuating post-injury fibrosis. Next, we discuss the advantages of miRNA-functionalized scaffolds in achieving sustained and localized miRNA administration to minimize off-target effects, and thus hoping to inspire the development of effective miRNA delivery platforms specifically for tendon tissue engineering. We envision that advancement in miRNA-based therapeutics will herald a new era of tendon tissue engineering and pave a way for clinical translation for the treatments of tendon disorders.

肌腱损伤是最常见的肌肉骨骼疾病之一，会导致相当大的发病率并严重影响患者的生活质量。肌腱固有的有限再生能力给临床医生带来了巨大的治疗挑战。 MicroRNA (miRNA) 是一类小型非编码 RNA，通过转录后调控在协调许多生物过程中发挥着至关重要的作用。越来越多的证据表明，基于 miRNA 的疗法可能作为治疗肌腱病理的创新策略。在这篇综述中，我们简要介绍了 miRNA 的生物发生、miRNA 在肌腱细胞生物学中的作用以及它们在肌腱损伤中的参与，随后总结了当前肌腱组织工程中基于 miRNA 的方法，特别关注减轻损伤后纤维化。接下来，我们讨论了 miRNA 功能化支架在实现持续和局部 miRNA 给药以最大程度地减少脱靶效应方面的优势，从而希望能够激发专门针对肌腱组织工程的有效 miRNA 递送平台的开发。我们预计，基于 miRNA 的疗法的进步将预示着肌腱组织工程的新时代，并为肌腱疾病治疗的临床转化铺平道路。