Low reporting quality limits the contribution of human organ models to COVID-19 research: a systematic review.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic created a unique situation in which researchers repurposed human models of varying complexity to investigate SARS-CoV-2, providing the opportunity to analyse their contribution across organs. We conducted a systematic review of 558 studies, divided into pandemic and post-pandemic periods, to assess how human models were applied to investigate host factors, viral replication of SARS-CoV-2, immune responses, and to evaluate reporting quality. Our analysis revealed substantial limitations that were only partially alleviated in post-pandemic studies. These limitations included heterogeneity of outcome measures, incomplete documentation of model characteristics and experimental procedures, and variable reporting quality, which were associated with reduced cross-study comparability, more difficult risk-of-bias assessment, and limited reliability and interpretability of evidence synthesis and meta-analytical results. Strengthening community-driven reporting standards and methodological transparency is essential to enable robust evidence synthesis and to fully realise the potential of human organ models in future pandemics and translational research. The study was supported by Einstein Foundation Berlin; Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space; European Union; Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung; Volkswagen Foundation; Charité 3R; Foundation Charité.