Abstract
BackgroundTriple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly heterogeneous breast cancer subtype with a poor prognosis due to its extremely aggressive nature and lack of effective treatment options. This study aims to summarize the current hotspots of TNBC research and evaluate the TNBC research trends, both qualitatively and quantitatively.MethodsScientific publications of TNBC-related studies from January 1, 2010 to October 17, 2020 were obtained from the Web of Science database. The BICOMB software was used to obtain the high-frequency keywords layout. The gCLUTO was used to produce a biclustering analysis on the binary matrix of word-paper. The co-occurrence and collaboration analysis between authors, countries, institutions, and keywords were performed by VOSviewer software. Keyword burst detection was performed by CiteSpace.ResultsA total of 12,429 articles related to TNBC were identified. During 2010-2020, the most productive country/region and institution in TNBC field was the USA and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, respectively. Cancer Research, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Annals of Oncology were the first three periodicals with maximum publications in TNBC research. Eight research hotspots of TNBC were identified by co-word analysis. In the core hotspots, research on neoadjuvant chemotherapy, paclitaxel therapy, and molecular typing of TNBC is relatively mature. Research on immunotherapy and PARP inhibitor for TNBC is not yet mature but is the current focus of this field. Burst detection of keywords showed that studies on TNBC proteins and receptors, immunotherapy, target, and tumor cell migration showed bursts in recent three years.ConclusionThe current study revealed that TNBC studies are growing. Attention should be paid to the latest hotspots, such as immunotherapy, PARP inhibitors, target, and TNBC proteins and receptors.
Highlights
Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women worldwide, and its mortality rate ranks second in cancer-related deaths [1]
According to the collaborative visualization network of publishing countries/ regions (Figure 2B), the United States and China are the two largest network nodes located at the central connection point of the collaborative relationship map, i.e., they are most closely connected with other major publishing countries
It is noteworthy that introducing immune checkpoint inhibitors in the early stages of Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) may be a potential therapy because the primary tumor seems more immunogenic than the metastatic tumor [36]. These results indicate that TNBC treatment has entered the era of immunotherapy
Summary
Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women worldwide, and its mortality rate ranks second in cancer-related deaths [1]. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a subtype of breast cancer where there is reduced expression of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) receptor. Most TNBC treatments are limited as therapeutic targets have not been elucidated [5]. Adjuvant chemotherapy is currently the standard treatment for TNBC, but the optimal chemotherapy regimen is still controversial due to drug resistance and tolerance issues [3, 6]. It is urgent to find specific therapeutic targets to improve the clinical outcomes, which has become a hotspot of TNBC research [7]. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly heterogeneous breast cancer subtype with a poor prognosis due to its extremely aggressive nature and lack of effective treatment options. This study aims to summarize the current hotspots of TNBC research and evaluate the TNBC research trends, both qualitatively and quantitatively
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