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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1452303

A Bibliometric Analysis of Drug Resistance in Immunotherapy for Breast Cancer: Trends, Themes, and Research Focus

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Department of Breast Surgery, Cancer Hospital, College of Medicine, Shantou University, Shantou, China
  • 2 Department of Radiation Oncology, Cancer Hospital, College of Medicine, Shantou University, Shantou, China
  • 3 College of Engineering, Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong Province, China
  • 4 The Central Laboratory, Cancer Hospital, College of Medicine, Shantou University, Shantou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    While breast cancer treatments have advanced significantly nowadays, yet metastatic, especially triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), remains challenging with low survival. Cancer immunotherapy, a promising approach for HER2-positive and TNBC, still faces resistance hurdles. Recently, numerous studies have set their sights on the resistance of immunotherapy for breast cancer. Our study provides a thorough comprehension of the current research landscape, hotspots, and emerging breakthroughs in this critical area through a meticulous bibliometric analysis. As of March 26, 2024, a total of 1341 articles on immunology resistance in breast cancer have been gathered from Web of Science Core Collection, including 765 articles and 576 reviews. Bibliometrix, CiteSpace and VOSviewer software were utilized to examine publications and citations per year, prolific countries, contributive institutions, high-level journals and scholars, as well as highly cited articles, references and keywords. The research of immunotherapy resistance in breast cancer has witnessed a remarkable surge over the past seven years. The United States and China have made significant contributions, with Harvard Medical School being the most prolific institution and actively engaging in collaborations. The most contributive author is Curigliano, G from the European Institute of Oncology in Italy, while Wucherpfennig, K. W. from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in the USA, had the highest citations. Journals highly productive primarily focus on clinical, immunology and oncology research. Common keywords include "resistance", "expression", "tumor microenvironment", "cancer", "T cell", "therapy", "chemotherapy" and "cell". Current research endeavors to unravel the mechanisms of immune resistance in breast cancer through the integration of bioinformatics, basic experiments, and clinical trials. Efforts are underway to develop strategies that improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy, including the exploration of combination therapies and advancements in drug delivery systems. Additionally, there is a strong focus on identifying novel biomarkers that can predict patient response to immunology. This study will provide researchers with an up-to-date overview of the 1 present knowledge in drug resistance of immunology for breast cancer, serving as a valuable resource for informed decision-making and further research on innovative approaches to address immunotherapy resistance.

    Keywords: Immunotherapy resistance, breast cancer, bibliometric analysis, VOSviewer, Citespace, mechanisms, Tumor Microenvironment

    Received: 20 Jun 2024; Accepted: 24 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Jiang, Zhuang, Zeng and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Huancheng Zeng, Department of Breast Surgery, Cancer Hospital, College of Medicine, Shantou University, Shantou, China
    Yaochen Li, The Central Laboratory, Cancer Hospital, College of Medicine, Shantou University, Shantou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.