Patients with microsatellite-instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatched repair-deficient colorectal cancer (CRC) appear to be responsive to checkpoint inhibitors. This study aimed to assess research trends in CRC immunotherapy. Publication patterns of articles covering immunotherapies in CRC in the Web of Science Core Collection database were retrospectively examined using VOS viewer software (version 1.6.16) prior to 25 May 2021. Ultimately, 3977 records were identified that were published between 1975 and 2021, which received a total of 128,681 citations (an average of 32.36 citations per item), with a noticeable rise in 2014. The majority of articles were published in the US (35.8%), China (17.7%), and Germany (9.4%). Publications mainly originated from the Institut National de la Santé Et De La Recherche Medicale Inserm, followed by the University of Texas System and Harvard University; however, Johns Hopkins University received the most citations (18,666 for 69 publications). The Journal of Clinical Oncology issued the most publications (n = 146), while the most referenced item (7724 citations) was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2012. The most common keywords were associated with tumors (expression and microsatellite instability) or immune system components (t-cells/dendritic cells). The findings demonstrate the scientific community's interest in the MSI-H subtype of colorectal tumors and how immunotherapy may be employed more successfully to treat metastatic CRC.
Keywords: analysis; bibliometric; colorectal cancer; immunotherapy; publications; research; treatment.