TABLE 3.

Summary of the main growth factors for tendon tissue engineering.

Growth factor	Main effects	References
CTGF	Promote fibroblast proliferation and matrix formation, increased expression of tenogenic genes, increased anti-inflammatory gene expression and collagen synthesis	Wang et al. (2003), Lee et al. (2006), Liu et al. (2015), Zhang B. et al. (2018), Shen et al. (2018), Li et al. (2019)
IGF -I	Promote tendon fibroblasts proliferation and migration, increase collagen and proteoglycan production	Schnabel et al. (2009), Liu et al. (2014), Holladay et al. (2016)
PDGF	Stimulate other growth factors production, increase mitogenic responses and DNA synthesis, facilitate cells migration and proliferation, increase tenogenic differentiation, upregulate Scx, Tnmd and TNC expression	Wang (2006), Branford et al. (2014), Li et al. (2021)
TGF -β	Induce extrinsic cell migration and proliferation, stimulate collagen production, regulate proteinases, initiate inflammatory response, enhance neovascularization, increase extracellular matrix deposition, promote tissue fibrosis and scarring	Chang et al. (1997), Wang (2006), Ito et al. (2010); Yin et al. (2010), Jones et al. (2013); Juneja et al. (2013), Zhou et al. (2013), Branford et al. (2014), Jiang et al. (2016), Zhang C. et al. (2018), Schneider et al. (2018), Titan et al. (2019)
VEGF	Stimulate endothelial cell proliferation, promote angiogenesis and capillary permeability, enhance collagen synthesis	Bidder et al. (2000), Pufe et al. (2005), Wang (2006), Kraus et al. (2018), Li et al. (2021)
bFGF	Involved in inflammatory response, angiogenesis, cell proliferation and collagen synthesis, promote BMSC proliferation, induce tendon-like fibroblastic differentiation, promote tendon-related mRNA expression	Sahoo et al. (2010), Tang et al. (2016)
Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs)	Involved in chemotaxis, proliferation, matrix synthesis and tenogenic differentiation of MSCs, modulate collagen formation	Chhabra et al. (2003), Bolt et al. (2007), Lamplot et al. (2014), Chamberlain et al. (2015), Citeroni et al. (2020)