Table 3.

Details of included studies.

Author	Year	Journal	Study type	Tendon	Sample demographics			Subgroup analysis	Inflammatory cell markers
					Experimental group type and size	Control group type and size	Source
Franka KS et al. [37]	2018	Int J Mol Sci	Human	Achilles	Acute (n ​= ​13) vs chronic (n ​= ​6) vs tendinopathy (n ​= ​7)	Intact tendons for RNA analysis (n ​= ​4); for histological evaluation (n ​= ​5)	1.Acute: recreational sportsmen 2.Chronic: delayed traumatic patients with surgery 3.Patients with insertional Achilles tendinopathy 4.Patients suffer non-related tendon pathological surgery 5.Cadavers	Acute Achilles rupture vs. chronic Achilles rupture vs. chronic tendinopathy vs. intact	CD3, CD34, CD45, CD68, CD80, CD206
Dakin SG et al. [38]	2018	Br J Sports Med	Human	Achilles	Mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy (n ​= ​17) and rupture (n ​= ​19)	Healthy hamstring tendons (n ​= ​15)	1.Tendinopathy biopsies from a sports clinic 2.Ruptured biopsies from a trauma unit 3.Hamstring biopsies from patients undergoing anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction	Mid-portion tendinopathy vs. rupture	CD14, CD31, CD68, CD106, CD163, CD206, CD248
Bergqvist F et al. [39]	2019	Arthritis Res Ther	Human	Achilles	Shoulder tendon cohorts (n ​= ​19) vs Achilles tendon cohort (acute: n ​= ​3; chronic: n ​= ​3)	Hamstring tendon cohort (n ​= ​8)	1.Supraspinatus tendon biopsies were collected during repair surgery 2.Tendinopathic supraspinatus tissue was collected during arthroscopic subacromial decompression surgery 3.Achilles tendinopathic tissues were collected by a 14G trucut biopsy needle 4.Achilles rupture tissues were collected during surgical debridement 5.Hamstring tendons were collected during anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction	Tendinopathy vs. rupture	CD31, CD34, CD45, CD68
Barboni B et al. [40]	2018	J Tissue Eng Regen Med	Animal (Ovine)	Achilles	Ovine Achilles tendon partial defect model (n ​= ​29)	Health Achilles tendons (n ​= ​10)	1.Ovine Achilles partial defect tendon 2.Healthy Achilles tendons were collected at slaughterhouse	Partial defect model vs. health tendon	CD3, CD45, CD68, CD86, CD206
Chamberlain CS et al. [41]	2019	Stem Cells	Animal (Mice)	Achilles	Surgical transected Achilles model (n ​= ​27)	Intact contralateral side tendon (n ​= ​27)	1.Surgical transected Achilles tendon. 2.Intact contralateral control.	Transected tendon vs. intact tendon	CD9, CD14, CD63, CD81, CD206
Gotoh et al. [42]	1997	J Orthop Res	Human	Rotator cuff	Supraspinatus insertions: complete tear (n ​= ​8) and incomplete tear (n ​= ​8)	Cadaveric specimens (n ​= ​6)	1.Supraspinatus insertions with portions of the greater tuberosity were obtained during surgery. 2.fter being examined for gross tears, fresh cadaveric specimens ​, were harvested within 6 ​h postmortem and served as controls.	Partial thickness vs. full thickness tears	CD68
Matthews et al. [43]	2006	J Bone Joint Surg Br	Human	Rotator cuff	Torn chronic supraspinatus specimens (n ​= ​40)	Subscapularis specimens from patients with recurrent dislocation (n ​= ​4)	1.Specimens were taken from within 1.5 ​cm of the edge of tear during rotator cuff surgery. 2.Subscapularis controls were harvested during anterior stabilisation of the shoulder.	Tear size	CD34, CD45, CD68
Millar et al. [44]	2010	Am J Sports Med	Human	Rotator cuff	Ruptured supraspinatus specimens (n ​= ​20)	Tendinopathic subscapularis specimens (n ​= ​10)	1.Supraspinatus specimens were collected during surgery. 2.Subscapularis controls were harvested during anterior stabilisation of the shoulder.	Tear vs tendinopathy	CD3, CD34, CD68, CD206
Hackett et al. [45]	2016	J Bone Joint Surg Am	Human	Rotator cuff	Torn supraspinatus specimens (n ​= ​10)	Subscapularis specimens (n ​= ​10)	1.Supraspinatus tendon was taken from the torn edge of the tendon. 2.Subscapularis tendon was harvested arthroscopically from the superior border of the tendon approximately 1 ​cm lateral to the glenoid labrum.	Control vs. tear vs. calcific tendinitis	CD3, CD34, CD68, CD206