A bibliometric analysis on discovering anti-quorum sensing agents against clinically relevant pathogens: current status, development, and future directions

Bo Peng; Yanqun Li; Jiajia Yin; Wenping Ding; Wang Fazuo; Zhihui Xiao; Hao Yin

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1297843

A bibliometric analysis on discovering anti-quorum sensing agents against clinically relevant pathogens: current status, development, and future directions

Front Microbiol. 2023 Nov 30:14:1297843. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1297843. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Bo Peng¹, Yanqun Li^{2

3}, Jiajia Yin^{2

3}, Wenping Ding², Wang Fazuo^{2

3}, Zhihui Xiao^{2

3}, Hao Yin^{2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Environmental and Climate Research, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
² CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
³ Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, China.
⁴ Sanya Institute of Ocean Eco-Environmental Engineering, Sanya, China.

Abstract

Background: Quorum sensing is bacteria's ability to communicate and regulate their behavior based on population density. Anti-quorum sensing agents (anti-QSA) is promising strategy to treat resistant infections, as well as reduce selective pressure that leads to antibiotic resistance of clinically relevant pathogens. This study analyzes the output, hotspots, and trends of research in the field of anti-QSA against clinically relevant pathogens.

Methods: The literature on anti-QSA from the Web of Science Core Collection database was retrieved and analyzed. Tools such as CiteSpace and Alluvial Generator were used to visualize and interpret the data.

Results: From 1998 to 2023, the number of publications related to anti-QAS research increased rapidly, with a total of 1,743 articles and reviews published in 558 journals. The United States was the largest contributor and the most influential country, with an H-index of 88, higher than other countries. Williams was the most productive author, and Hoiby N was the most cited author. Frontiers in Microbiology was the most prolific and the most cited journal. Burst detection indicated that the main frontier disciplines shifted from MICROBIOLOGY, CLINICAL, MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, and other biomedicine-related fields to FOOD, MATERIALS, NATURAL PRODUCTS, and MULTIDISCIPLINARY. In the whole research history, the strongest burst keyword was cystic-fibrosis patients, and the strongest burst reference was Lee and Zhang (2015). In the latest period (burst until 2023), the strongest burst keyword was silver nanoparticle, and the strongest burst reference was Whiteley et al. (2017). The co-citation network revealed that the most important interest and research direction was anti-biofilm/anti-virulence drug development, and timeline analysis suggested that this direction is also the most active. The key concepts alluvial flow visualization revealed seven terms with the longest time span and lasting until now, namely Escherichia coli, virulence, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, virulence factor, bacterial biofilm, gene expression, quorum sensing. Comprehensive analysis shows that nanomaterials, marine natural products, and artificial intelligence (AI) may become hotspots in the future.

Conclusion: This bibliometric study reveals the current status and trends of anti-QSA research and may assist researchers in identifying hot topics and exploring new research directions.

Keywords: anti-quorum sensing; antimicrobial resistance; biofilm; drug discovery; inhibitor; quorum sensing inhibition; virulence.

Publication types

Systematic Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported financially by Key-Area Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province (2020B1111030004), National Natural Science Foundation of China (41890853), the Key Special Project for Introduced Talents Team of Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) (GML2019ZD0401), National Natural Science Foundation of China (41176149), Hainan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (321CXTD447).