A bibliometric analysis of ferroptosis, necroptosis, pyroptosis, and cuproptosis in cancer from 2012 to 2022

Abstract

This study aims to visualize research hotspots and trends of "ferroptosis in cancer", "necroptosis in cancer", "pyroptosis in cancer", and "cuproptosis in cancer" through a bibliometric analysis to facilitate understanding of future developments in basic and clinical research and to provide a new perspective on cancer treatment. From January 1, 2012 to October 31, 2022, in the field of "ferroptosis in cancer", a total of 2467 organizations from 79 different countries published 3302 articles. 2274 organizations from 72 different countries published 2233 articles in the field of " necroptosis in cancer". 1366 institutions from 58 different countries contributed 1445 publications in the field of "pyroptosis in cancer". In the field of " cuproptosis in cancer", the number of articles published in the last 10 years is relatively low, with a total of 109 articles published by 116 institutions from four different countries. In the field of "ferroptosis in cancer", Tang Daolin had published 66 documents, ranked the first, while Dixon SJ is the most cited author, cited 3148 times; In the fields of "necroptosis in cancer", Vandenabeele peter had published 35 papers and Degterev had been cited 995 times, ranked the first, respectively; Kanneganti thirumala-devi had published 24 papers, is the highest number of publications in the fields of "pyroptosis in cancer", while Shi JJ was the most cited author with being cited 508 times. Both Huang Yan and Wang Tao published three papers and tied for first place and Tsvetkov p ranks first with being cited 107 times in "cuproptosis in cancer". "Cell", "Cell", "Nature", and "Science" was the most frequently co-cited journal on "ferroptosis in cancer", "necroptosis in cancer", "pyroptosis in cancer", and "cuproptosis in cancer", respectively. Further exploration of inhibitors of different Programmed cell death (PCD) and their targeted therapies are potential treatment options for cancer, but more direct clinical evidence as well as higher level clinical trials remain to be explored. Further clarification of the mechanisms of crosstalk between these PCDs may provide effective cancer treatments. And the role of different types of PCDs, especially the novel ones discovered, in cancer can be expected to remain a hot topic of research in the cancer field for quite some time to come.

Fig. 1. Analysis of annual publication trends.

Trend of “ferroptosis in cancer”, “necroptosis in cancer”, “pyroptosis in cancer”, and “cuproptosis in cancer” publications from 2012 to 2022.

Fig. 2. VOSviewer visualization map of Bibliographic coupling Authors.

A ferroptosis in cancer; B necroptosis in cancer; C pyroptosis in cancer; D cuproptosis in cancer. Each circle indicates an author, the circle size indicates the number of citations of that author’s published articles in the bibliographic coupling analysis, the larger the circle, the higher the number of citations, the lines between the circles indicate the connections between authors, and the connection networks of different colors indicate the clusters of cooperation between different authors. Different colors represent different clusters.

Fig. 3. VOSviewer visualization map of co-citation authors.

A ferroptosis in cancer; B necroptosis in cancer; C pyroptosis in cancer; D cuproptosis in cancer. Each circle represents an author, the circle size indicates the number of co-citations of that author’s published articles, the larger the circle, the higher the number of co-citations, the lines between the circles indicate the connections between authors, and the connection networks of different colors indicate the collaborative clusters between different authors. Different colors represent different clusters.

Fig. 4. VOSviewer visualization map of bibliographic coupling source.

A ferroptosis in cancer; B necroptosis in cancer; C pyroptosis in cancer; D cuproptosis in cancer. Each circle indicates a journal, the circle size indicates the number of publications in that journal in the bibliographic coupling analysis, the larger the circle, the higher the number of publications, the lines between the circles indicate the connections between journals, and the connection networks of different colors indicate the clusters of cooperation between different journals. Different colors represent different clusters.

Fig. 5. VOSviewer visualization map of co-citation source.

A ferroptosis in cancer; B necroptosis in cancer; C pyroptosis in cancer; D cuproptosis in cancer. Each circle represents an journal, the circle size indicates the number of co-citations in that journal, the larger the circle, the higher the number of co-citations, the lines between the circles indicate the connections between journals, and the connection networks of different colors indicate the collaborative clusters between different journals. Different colors represent different clusters.

Fig. 6. VOSviewer visualization map of citation documents.

A ferroptosis in cancer; B necroptosis in cancer; C pyroptosis in cancer; D cuproptosis in cancer. Each circle indicates a document, the size of the circle indicates the number of citations, the larger the circle, the higher the number of citations, the lines between the circles indicate the connection between documents, and the connection networks of different colors indicate the clusters of cooperation between different documents. Different colors represent different clusters.

Fig. 7. VOSviewer visualization map of bibliographic coupling documents.

A ferroptosis in cancer; B necroptosis in cancer; C pyroptosis in cancer; D cuproptosis in cancer. Each circle indicates a document, the circle size indicates the number of citations in the bibliographic coupling analysis, the larger the circle, the higher the number of citations, the lines between the circles indicate the connections between documents, and the connection networks of different colors indicate the clusters of cooperation between different documents. Different colors represent different clusters.

Fig. 8. VOSviewer visualization map of co-citation references.

A Ferroptosis in cancer; B necroptosis in cancer; C pyroptosis in cancer; D cuproptosis in cancer. Each circle represents an reference, the circle size indicates the number of reference co-citations, the larger the circle, the higher the number of co-citations, the lines between the circles indicate the connections between references, and the connection networks of different colors indicate the collaborative clusters between different references. Different colors represent different clusters.