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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1443890
This article is part of the Research Topic Follicular Helper T Cells in Immunity and Autoimmunity - Volume II View all 6 articles
Global research prospects and trends in TFH cells and tumors: a bibliometric analysis
Provisionally accepted
Hao Lei 1
Jin Hu 2* Junpeng Zhu 3*
Runze Li 3
Yu Zhao 3 Yaqi Zhao 3* Guisheng He 1* Tao Song 1*
Hengyu Chen 1
Chong Lu 3 Lei Li 3* Chunping Liu 3* Wuping Zheng 1*- 1 Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Hainan, China
- 2 Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Renmin Hospital, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
- 3 Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Wuhan Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
Background: T follicular helper (TFH) cells, a subset of CD4 + Th cells, play a critical role in B cell activation, proliferation, and differentiation primarily within B follicles in secondary lymphoid organs, essential processes for effective antibody responses.TFH cells are also implicated in various conditions, including autoimmune diseases, cancer, infectious diseases, allergies, and vaccine reactions. Despite their broad impact, a review of the literature on TFH cells and tumors has not been conducted. We aimed to fill this gap by providing a detailed analysis of the research landscape concerning TFH cells and tumors.We conducted a bibliometric analysis of literature on TFH cells and tumors from 2012 to 2024 using the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). For a analysis of the global research landscape, we employed VOSviewer (version 1.6.20), CiteSpace 6.2.R6 software, and the "bibliometric" package in R language (version 4.3.2) to evaluate data on countries/regions, authors and cited authors, institutions, journals, references, and keywords. We also conducted a systematic review to summarize the global research trends, prospects, and hotspots in this field.Our analysis included contributions from 60 countries/regions, 7,864 authors, 35,853 cited authors, 1,756 institutions, 385 academic journals, 50883 references, 222 keywords, and 1,181published papers. Over the past decade, the volume of research on TFH cells and tumors had consistently increased. China published the most papers, more than double that of the United States. The top 2 authors ranked by publication volume were Gaulard, Philippe (14 articles, 379 citations), and De leval, Laurence (12 articles, 236 citations) Notably, 9 of the top 10 most published institutions were from China. Frontiers in Immunology and Immunitywere the leading journals in publications and citations. A cluster analysis revealed a shift in research focus from "expression" ,"B cells" and "survival" to "tumor microenvironment", "tumor infiltrating immune cells" and "immune infiltration" in recent years.
Keywords: Tfh cells, tumor, immune, Bibliometrics, CD4+Th cells
Received: 10 Jul 2024; Accepted: 24 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lei, Hu, Zhu, Li, Zhao, Zhao, He, Song, Chen, Lu, Li, Liu and Zheng. 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:
Jin Hu, Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Renmin Hospital, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430060, Hubei Province, China
Junpeng Zhu, Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Wuhan Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
Yaqi Zhao, Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Wuhan Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
Guisheng He, Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Hainan, China
Tao Song, Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Hainan, China
Lei Li, Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Wuhan Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
Chunping Liu, Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Wuhan Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
Wuping Zheng, Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Hainan, China
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