Abstract
BACKGROUND: Breast cancer persists as a major public health issue on a global scale. Lymphangiogenesis is an indispensable element in the promotion of breast cancer metastasis. Inhibiting the metastasis of breast cancer can be accomplished through targeting lymphangiogenesis. The purpose of this study was to examine research trends, major topics, and development directions of lymphangiogenesis in breast cancer through a bibliometric analysis, which may serve as a reference for future research and clinical practice. METHODS: English publications with article type article or review about lymphangiogenesis in breast cancer from inception to September 30, 2023, retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection Database (WOSCC), and VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and Microsoft Excel were applied for bibliometric study. RESULTS: In this paper, a total of 369 articles and reviews were included. The 369 papers were written by 2120 authors from 553 organizations across 42 countries, published in 199 journals, and cited 12458 references from 1801 journals up to September 30, 2023. Moreover, the annual publications had a rising trajectory between 2004 to 2014 but declined from 2015. The US was the leading nation in publications and citations. Meanwhile, academics Mousumi Majumder and Peeyush Lala had the highest cumulative number of publications. Based on the number of publications/citations, Cancer Research was the most influential journal. The most cited paper was "Lymphangiogenesis: Molecular Mechanisms and Future Promise" by Tuomas Tammela, published in the Journal of Cell. Additionally, keywords frequency analysis demonstrated that "lymphangiogenesis," "breast cancer," "VEGF-C," "angiogenesis," and "metastasis" were the most frequent keywords, and the newly emergent topics could be represented by "tumor microenvironment," "metastasis," "stem-cell," "triple-negative breast cancer," and "blood vessels." CONCLUSIONS: Currently, there is a strong research basis for lymphangiogenesis in breast cancer. The core research team was primarily situated in the US. Investigating the mechanism of lymphangiogenesis in breast cancer will always remain a highly discussed topic. In particular, it was essential to emphasize the relationship between lymphangiogenesis and tumor microenvironment, stem cells, triple-negative breast cancer, and metastasis, which could be the frontiers.