SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Breast Cancer
From Bench to Bedside: A Bibliometric Review of Autophagy in Breast Cancer Research
Provisionally accepted
- Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
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Background: Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality and morbidity among women worldwide. Autophagy, a key cellular process playing a dual role in tumorigenesis and progression, has emerged as a critical area of breast cancer research. However, the research landscape, knowledge structure, and developmental trends in this field remain under-evaluated. Objective: This study employs bibliometric methods to conduct a comprehensive visual analysis and summary of the global research landscape, core hotspots, and future trends in breast cancer autophagy from 2013 to 2023. It aims to provide researchers with clear research insights and directional guidance. Methods: Relevant literature from 2013 to 2023 was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. Quantitative analysis and visualization of data, including countries, institutions, authors, journals, and keywords, were performed using tools such as CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and SCImago Graphica. Results: This study included 4,447 publications. Results indicate: annual publication volume in this field has shown sustained growth, with a cumulative citation count reaching 129,439; China leads with 2,152 publications, while the United States demonstrates prominent influence through international collaborations; the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Sichuan University are the core contributing institutions; David A. Gewirtz is the most prolific author, and Liu bo is the most collaborative author; Highly cited papers were concentrated in top-tier journals such as Nature Reviews Cancer. Keyword analysis revealed "in vitro studies" as the dominant theme, while trending term analysis indicated "triple-negative breast cancer" and "migration" as recent research frontiers. Clinical translation lagged significantly, with only 17 registered clinical trials globally, primarily relying on non-specific inhibitors like hydroxychloroquine. Discussion and conclusion: This study indicates that while breast cancer autophagy research has advanced rapidly at the basic research level, it faces significant bottlenecks in clinical translation. Future research should focus on developing precision targeting strategies, establishing effective biomarker systems, and constructing more efficient industry-academia-research translation pathways to drive substantial translation of basic research findings into clinical applications.
Keywords: Autophagy, breast cancer, Bibliometric, VOSviewer, Citespace
Received: 18 Mar 2025; Accepted: 25 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yi, Zhang, Yan, Zhang, Su, Guo and Ma. 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: Min Ma
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