Research Prospects for Necroptosis in Inflammatory Diseases: A Bibliometric Analysis

Background: Necroptosis is a modifiable form of cell death mainly dependent on RIPK3 and MLKL. The association between necroptosis and inflammation has been a key focus of research. An increasing number of studies have shown that necroptosis plays an important role in inflammatory diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease.

Methods: Articles published up to 2023 were searched on the Web of Science. VOSviewer, CiteSpace, Gephi, and Microsoft Office Excel were used for bibliometric analysis and visualisation. In addition, journal impact factors and journal partitions were obtained through the Web of Science.

Results: A total of 3011 articles were included in this study. The number of publications and citations in the field increased year by year. China had the highest number of publications. Cell Death & Disease published the most papers in the field. P. Vandenabeele is one of the most important scholars in this field. The most cited reference was "Molecular Mechanisms of cell death: recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death".We found substantial evidence that acute kidney injury, sepsis, cancer, and other diseases are closely related to necroptosis. In addition, we found that inhibitors of necroptosis have great potential in the treatment of inflammatory diseases.

Conclusion: This is the first bibliometric analysis of studies related to necroptosis in inflammatory diseases. Our results provide an overview of basic and influential research, providing a basis for the identification of valuable research directions. Furthermore, this work offers general insight into the role of necroptosis in inflammatory human diseases.