Bibliometric and visual analysis of global crc circular RNA research 2015-2023

Background:Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third highest malignant tumor in theworld in terms of incidence rate, accounting for about 10% of all cancer cases and thesecond leading cause of cancer related deaths. Timely diagnosis and effectivetreatment are key to significantly improving the survival rate of CRC patients. Variousfactors including gender, environmental factors, lifestyle choices, and geneticpredisposition are all causes of the onset of CRC. Circular RNA(circRNA) mainly existsincancercellsandtissues,solidtumors,peripheralblood,exosomes,andbodyfluids(such as serum, plasma, and saliva). Due to their resistance to degradation and presencein bodyfluids, CircRNA is non-invasive and an ideal candidate for liquid biopsy, thushaving high diagnostic potential. Current research has found that circRNA can regulatethe proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis of CRC cells.Methods:This article aims to comprehensively evaluate the current status andtrends of circRNA research in thefield of CRC through bibliometric analysis.Intended to use software tools such as VOSviewer, CiteSpace, Microsoft Excel,and R language package to illustrate research progress and focus, in order tooutline development trends and future research directions.Results:This study used specific inclusion and exclusion criteria to investigate1048 papers published before December 31, 2023 in the core database of theWorld Council for Scientific Knowledge. Our researchfindings indicate thatChina has the highest number of published papers in thisfield, with NanjingMedical University and Kiavash Hushmandi considered the most influentialinstitutions and authors. The Journal ofOncology Frontiers is the journal withthe most published papers, while the article "Circular RNA: The New Star of Noncoding RNA" is the journal with the most published papers. In addition, termssuch as "signaling pathway", "promoting metastasis", "promoting proliferation",and "drug resistance" have become important focuses in this researchfield.Conclusions:This study indicates that the focus between circRNA and CRC hasshifted from studying the biological characteristics of circRNA to studying the regulationof circRNA molecular mechanisms. Future research should emphasize the potential useof circRNA as a biomarker for the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of CRC