Abstract

Background: Research over the past 21 years has shown a close relationship between oral microorganisms and immunotherapy, which has become a major focus of widespread attention in the scientific community. With the rapid increase in the number of publications in this field, it is particularly important to conduct a bibliometric analysis of related articles.
Methods: This study searched records from Web of Science Core Collection database from January 1, 2004, to December 31, 2024. By using bibliometric software CiteSpace (6.3.R1) and VOSviewer (1.6.19), co-occurrence analysis was used to count the frequency of co-occurrence of certain elements (e.g., countries, regions, institutions, etc.), cluster analysis was used to classify keywords, and burst analysis was used to identify research trends and hotspots.
Results: The number of publications in this field has shown a year-on-year increasing trend, particularly since 2018. The United States has consistently ranked first in terms of publication output. Wuhan University and Emory University are the institutions with the highest number of publications and the greatest total link strength, respectively. Journal of Immunology is the journal with the most publications in this domain. Fan M.W. and Hajishengallis are the authors with the highest number of publications and the highest total citations, respectively. Immunology is the most frequent subject category. Besides "oral microbiota" and "immunotherapy," the most popular keywords include "dendritic cells," "periodontitis," and "expression" (referring to gene/protein expression).This study is primarily focused on how the oral microbiota influences systemic anti-tumor immunity, although some effects also extend to other areas such as sublingual immunotherapy and periodontitis.
Conclusion: Over the past two decades, although a close association has been established between the oral microbiota and immunotherapy, the precise causal mechanisms remain incompletely elucidated. The translation of theoretical discoveries into clinical practice, along with the advancement of innovative interdisciplinary research, is poised to become a prominent focal point in this field.