SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Med.
Sec. Nephrology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1599196
Emerging trends and focus of Toll-like receptors in kidney diseases: a 20-year bibliometric analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Nephrology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- 2Department of Critical Care Medicine, West China School of Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
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Background An increasing number of studies have explored the role of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in the pathogenesis of kidney diseases and their corresponding therapeutic potential. However, there is no comprehensive bibliometric analysis in this field. This study aims to investigate the hotspots and evolution of TLRs and kidney disease research over the past two decades.Method Publications from the Web of Science Core Collection database were searched and extracted on December 21, 2024 using the terms "toll-like receptor" and "kidney disease" (and their synonyms in MeSH). CiteSpace was used to explore publications from January 1, 2000, to December 21, 2024, to visualize the contributions of countries, institutions, journals, and authors, and to detect the evolution of research focus and emerging trends in this field.Result A total of 2,505 studies with 101,150 references were included in this study. The United States and China are the leading forces among all countries. The Egyptian Knowledge Bank is the leading institution, and Hans-Joachim Anders is considered the most influential expert in this field. PLOS One is the journal with the most publications, and Journal of Immunology is the most co-cited journal. According to the co-citation analysis, COVID-19 is the latest research hotspot. Additionally, both ischemia-reperfusion injury and diabetic nephropathy have been long-standing research hotspots and still hold significant values. Moreover, the use of TLR inhibitors as a therapeutic strategy for kidney diseases is increasingly emphasized. Conclusion Our study demonstrates a growing understanding of the crucial role of TLRs in kidney diseases over the past two decades. Future research should attach more importance to the identification of novel endogenous ligands for TLRs, which will be critical for developing TLR inhibitors as a viable therapeutic strategy.
Keywords: Kidney Diseases, Toll-Like Receptors, bibliometric analysis, ischemic acute kidney injury, Inflammation
Received: 24 Mar 2025; Accepted: 26 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Luo, Wan, Li and Su. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yupei Li, Department of Nephrology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
Baihai Su, Department of Nephrology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.