Integration of nanotechnology in triple negative breast cancer research: a bibliometric and emerging trends analysis

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer with a receptor-negative profile and poor prognosis. It mostly affects young African-American, Hispanic women, and BRCA 1 mutation carriers. Nanotechnology, with its capacity to manipulate materials at the nanoscale, offers promising avenues for enhancing therapeutic delivery, imaging, and biomarker detection for better treatment outcomes in TNBC. The purpose of this study was to explore the intellectual landscape, identify key contributors and emerging trends, and predict future research directions in the application of nanotechnology for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) research. METHOD: The Bibliometrix R package and VOSviewer were used to analyze 405 documents indexed in the Scopus database from 2013 to 2025. RESULTS: An annual growth rate of 22.79% was observed, indicating increasing interest in this field. China was the leading country in this field, with Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Zhang Y as the most relevant institution and the most prolific author. Notably, the top 10 most relevant institutions were based in China. The International Journal of Nanomedicine and the Journal of Controlled Release had the highest number of publications, but the latter was the most impactful journal. Emerging trends identified included ferroptosis, immunotherapy, immunogenic cell death, tumor microenvironment, and RNA nanotechnology. CONCLUSION: Further research into ferroptosis-based therapy for TNBC, immunogenic cell death (ICD) with nano-enabled immunotherapy, multimodal nanotheranostics for TNBC, and clinical translation of NT in TNBC studies is recommended to advance nanotechnology research in TNBC.