Effects of intestinal microbes on rheumatic diseases: A bibliometric analysis

Runzhi Huang; Mengyi Zhang; Yuwei Lu; Dayuan Xu; Yifan Liu; Minghao Jin; Shuyuan Xian; Siqiao Wang; Xirui Tong; Jianyu Lu; Wei Zhang; Weijin Qian; Jieling Tang; Yiting Yang; Bingnan Lu; Zhengyan Chang; Xin Liu; Shizhao Ji

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.1074003

Effects of intestinal microbes on rheumatic diseases: A bibliometric analysis

Front Microbiol. 2023 Jan 9:13:1074003. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1074003. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Runzhi Huang^{1

2}, Mengyi Zhang³, Yuwei Lu³, Dayuan Xu^{1

2}, Yifan Liu³, Minghao Jin³, Shuyuan Xian⁴, Siqiao Wang⁴, Xirui Tong^{1

2}, Jianyu Lu^{1

2}, Wei Zhang^{1

2}, Weijin Qian³, Jieling Tang³, Yiting Yang³, Bingnan Lu³, Zhengyan Chang⁵, Xin Liu⁶, Shizhao Ji^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Burn Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China.
² Research Unit of Key Techniques for Treatment of Burns and Combined Burns and Trauma Injury, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Shanghai, China.
³ School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
⁴ School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
⁶ Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Background: Rheumatic diseases (RD) are a group of multi-system inflammatory autoimmune diseases whose causes are still under study. In the past few decades, researchers have found traces of the association between rheumatic diseases and intestinal microbiota, which can partially explain the pathogenesis of rheumatic diseases. We aimed to describe the research trend and main divisions on how gut flora interreacts with rheumatic diseases, and discussed about the possible clinical applications.

Methods: We analyzed bibliometric data from the Web of Science core collection (dated 15th May 2022). Biblioshiny R language software packages (bibliometrix) were used to obtain the annual publication and citations, core sources according to Bradford's law, and country collaboration map. We designed and verified the keyword co-occurrence network and strategic diagram with the help of VOSviewer and CiteSpace, subdivided the research topic into several themes and identified research dimensions. The tables of most local cited documents and core sources were processed manually. Furthermore, the Altmetric Attention Score and the annual Altmetric Top 100 were applied to analyze the annual publication and citation.

Results: From a total of 541 documents, we found that the overall trend of annual publication and citation is increasing. The major research method is to compare the intestinal microbial composition of patients with certain rheumatic disease and that of the control group to determine microbial alterations related to the disease's occurrence and development. According to Bradford's law, the core sources are Arthritis and Rheumatology, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Current Opinion in Rheumatology, Nutrients, Rheumatology, and Journal of Rheumatology. Since 1976, 101 countries or regions have participated in studies of rheumatology and intestinal microbes. The United States ranks at the top and has the broadest academic association with other countries. Five themes were identified, including the pivotal role of inflammation caused by intestinal bacteria in the rheumatic pathogenesis, the close relationship between rheumatic diseases and inflammatory bowel disease, immunoregulation mechanism as a mediator of the interaction between rheumatic diseases and gut flora, dysbiosis and decreased diversity in intestine of patients with rheumatic diseases, and the influence of oral flora on rheumatic diseases. Additionally, four research dimensions were identified, including pathology, treatment, disease, and experiments.

Conclusion: Studies on rheumatic diseases and the intestinal microbiota are growing. Attention should be paid to the mechanism of their interaction, such as the microbe-immune-RD crosstalk. Hopefully, the research achievements can be applied to diseases' prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, and our work can contribute to the readers' future research.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis; dysbiosis; host microbial interactions; intestinal microbiota; rheumatic diseases.

Grants and funding

This study was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81930057, 81772076, 81971836, and 81801620), CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (2019-I2M-5-076), and Deep Blue Talent Project of Naval Medical University, 234 Academic Climbing Programme of Changhai Hospital and Achievements Supportive Fund (2018-CGPZ-B03).