A scientometrics and visualization analysis of oxidative stress modulator Nrf2 in cancer profiles its characteristics and reveals its association with immune response

Song-Bin Guo; Sheng Du; Ke-Yu Cai; Han-Jia Cai; Wei-Juan Huang; Xiao-Peng Tian

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17075

A scientometrics and visualization analysis of oxidative stress modulator Nrf2 in cancer profiles its characteristics and reveals its association with immune response

Heliyon. 2023 Jun 7;9(6):e17075. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17075. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Song-Bin Guo^{1

2}, Sheng Du³, Ke-Yu Cai^{4

5}, Han-Jia Cai⁶, Wei-Juan Huang⁷, Xiao-Peng Tian^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, 510060, PR China.
² State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center of Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, 510060, PR China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510120, PR China.
⁴ Department of Colorectal and Anal Surgery, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510655, PR China.
⁵ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Diseases, Guangdong Institute of Gastroenterology, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510655, PR China.
⁶ The Second Clinical Medical College, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 511436, PR China.
⁷ Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, PR China.

Abstract

Background: Nrf2, an essential and fascinating transcription factor, enjoys a dual property in the occurrence and development of inflammation and cancer. For over two decades, numerous studies regarding Nrf2 in cancer have been reported, whereas there is still a lack of a scientometrics and visualization analysis of Nrf2 in cancer. Hence, a scientometric study regarding the oxidative stress modulator Nrf2 was implemented.

Methods: After the quality screening, we defined 7168 relevant studies from 2000 to 2021. CiteSpace, VOSviewer, R software, and GraphPad Prism were used for the following scientometric study and visualization analysis, including field profiles, research hotspots, and future predictions.

Results: The total number of publications and citations are 1058 and 54,690, respectively. After polynomial fitting curve analysis, two prediction functions of the annual publication number (y = 3.3909x² - 13585x + 1 E+07) and citation number (185.45x² - 743669x + 7 E+08) were generated. After scientometric analysis, we found that Biochemistry Molecular Biology correlates with Nrf2 in cancer highly, and Free Radical Biology and Medicine is a good choice for submitting Nrf2-related manuscripts. The current research hotspots of Nrf2 in cancer mainly focus on cancer therapy and its cellular and molecular mechanisms. "antioxidant response element (87.5)", "gene expression (43.98)", "antioxidant responsive element (21.14)", "chemoprevention (20.05)", "carcinogenesis (19.2)", "cancer chemoprevention (18.45)", "free radical (17.15)", "response element (14.17)", and "chemopreventive agent (14.04)" are important for cancer therapy study. In addition, "glutathione-S-transferase (47)", "keap1 (15.39)", and "heme oxygenase 1 gene (24.35)" are important for inflammation and cell fate study. More interestingly, by performing an "InfoMap" algorithm, the thematic map showed that the "immune response" is essential to oxidative stress modulator Nrf2 but not well developed, indicating it deserves further exploration.

Conclusion: This study revealed field profiles, research hotspots, and future directions of oxidative stress modulator Nrf2 in inflammation and cancer research, and our findings will offer a vigorous roadmap for further studies in this field.

Keywords: Cancer; Immune response; Nrf2; Oxidative stress; Scientometric; Visualization.