Abstract
Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer, and it lacks an efficient target treatment. Here, we aimed to gain knowledge on the development of TNBC research and explore potential treatment strategies.Methods: We analyzed 14,389 publications on TNBC from the Web of Science (WOS) over the past 20 years, from 2000 to 2020, using bibliometric methods. We evaluated the publication tendency of TNBC and the contributions of different countries. Institutions and journals with the highest number of TNBC publications were screened. Finally, the research focus of the TNBC publications were also analyzed.Results: TNBC publications have significantly increased in the past 20 years, with elevated relative research interest (RRI). The USA has the most TNBC-related publications with high quality, and China is the country with the most rapid growth tendency in TNBC publications. The University of Texas System is the institution with the most TNBC publications. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment is the journal that published the most TNBC-related publications. The top 30 publications with high citations are also listed. The researches focusing on TNBC in the past 20 years were separated into four main clusters: tumor biology, TNBC therapies, treatment sensitivity, and gene mutations. The research focus in TNBC ranked by appearing years reflects the development of TNBC treatment strategy, showing that targeting tumor immunity is now the main focus in TNBC research. Conclusions: Using bibliometric analysis, we initially revealed the increasing interest in TNBC research and summarized the publication tendency of TNBC. We also reported focused topics screened from publications in the past 20 years, indicating the main problems and research objectives of TNBC for the first time. Immune-related topics are becoming the focus of TNBC research.