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Immune-inflammatory biomarkers and immune features in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: a bibliometric study
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DOI：10.3389/fimmu.2026.1896838.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
IntroductionMetabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a heterogeneous liver disease involving metabolic dysfunction; inflammatory activity; immune activation; and fibrotic remodeling. Immune-inflammatory biomarkers and immune-related features may support disease characterization; fibrosis assessment; and risk stratification; but the knowledge structure of this subfield remains unclear. This study used bibliometric methods to map the development; contributors; intellectual structure; and emerging trends of immune-inflammatory biomarker and immune-feature research in MASLD/NAFLD.MethodsPublications were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC); with Scopus used for cross-database validation. After manual screening and data refinement; 268 WoSCC publications from 2000 to 2025 were retained for primary analysis. CiteSpace and VOSviewer were used to analyze publication trends; contributing countries; institutions; journals; authors; collaboration networks; keyword co-occurrence; keyword bursts; and reference co-citation clusters.ResultsAnnual publication output increased markedly after 2022. China contributed the largest number of publications; whereas the United States showed the strongest collaborative link strength. Aarhus University was the leading institution; while Henning Grønbæk and Konstantin Kazankov were the leading authors by publication output. Co-citation and keyword analyses indicated that the field is organized around overlapping domains; including systemic inflammatory indices; hepatic inflammation and histologic injury; immune-cell and macrophage-centered features; fibrosis assessment; treatment-response readouts; and prognostic stratification. Recent keyword bursts highlighted oxidative stress; macrophages; pathogenesis; and liver fibrosis. Scopus validation showed broadly consistent temporal and thematic patterns.DiscussionOverall; this subfield is rapidly expanding toward fibrosis-oriented stratification; immune-cell phenotyping; and clinically scalable inflammatory biomarker research.
Keywords:
metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease
VOSviewer
CiteSpace
bibliometric analysis
immune-inflammatory biomarkers
MASLD
liver fibrosis
immune features
Journal
IF:
5.9
Papers:
4.9W
Citations:
22.7W
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Cited Papers