Pyroptosis in sepsis: Comprehensive analysis of research hotspots and core genes in 2022

Demeng Xia; Sheng Wang; Renqi Yao; Yuexue Han; Liyu Zheng; Pengyi He; Ying Liu; Lu Yang

doi:10.3389/fmolb.2022.955991

Pyroptosis in sepsis: Comprehensive analysis of research hotspots and core genes in 2022

Front Mol Biosci. 2022 Aug 11:9:955991. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.955991. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Demeng Xia¹, Sheng Wang², Renqi Yao³, Yuexue Han⁴, Liyu Zheng³, Pengyi He³, Ying Liu⁵, Lu Yang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Luodian Clinical Drug Research Center, Shanghai Baoshan Luodian Hospital, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China.
² Department of Emergency, Changhai Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China.
³ Translational Medicine Research Center, Fourth Medical Center and Medical Innovation Research Division of the Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
⁴ Department of Clinical Medicine, Qing Dao University, Qing Dao, Shan Dong, China.
⁵ Institute of Translational Medicine, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China.
⁶ Clinical Research Center, Shanghai Baoshan Luodian Hospital, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Sepsis, a life-threatening disease caused by dysregulated host response to infection, is a major public health problem with a high mortality and morbidity rate. Pyroptosis is a new type of programmed cell death discovered in recent years, which has been proved to play an important role in sepsis. Nevertheless, there is no comprehensive report, which can help researchers get a quick overview and find research hotspots. Thus, we aimed to identify the study status and knowledge structures of pyroptosis in sepsis and summarize the key mechanism of pyroptosis in sepsis. The data were retrieved and downloaded from the WOS database. Software such as VOSviewer was used to analyze these publications. Key genes were picked out by using (https://www.genecards.org) and (http://www.bioinformatics.com). Then, Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis were used to performed these key genes. From 2011 to 2021, a total of 299 papers met the search criteria, and the global interest in pyroptosis in sepsis measured by the value of (RRI) has started to increase since 2016. China ranked first in the number of publications, followed by the USA. The journal Frontiers in Immunology published the most relevant articles. Through keyword co-occurrence analysis, the high-frequency subject terms were divided into three clusters like "animal research", "cell research," and "molecular research" clusters. "mir," "aki," "monocyte," and "neutrophil" were the newest keywords that may be the hotspot. In addition, a total of 15 genes were identified as hub genes. TNF, IL-1β, AKT1, CASP1, and STAT3 were highly expressed in lung tissues, thymus tissues, and lymphocytes. KEGG analysis indicated that pyroptosis may play a vital role in sepsis via the NOD, PI3K/AKT, and MAPK/JNK pathways. Through the quantitative analysis of the literature on pyroptosis in sepsis, we revealed the current status and hotspots of research in this field and provided some guidance for further studies.

Keywords: NLRP3 and immune organs; bibliometrics; pyroptosis; sepsis; toll and nod signaling pathways.