B cells intervention in inflammatory mechanism of ankylosing spondylitis: A visualization analysis for the past 20 years

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is an autoimmune disease with complex inflammatory mechanism. The aim of this study is to apply the methods of bibliometrics and knowledge mapping to analyze the research trends and hot spots of B cells intervention in inflammatory mechanism of AS. Global published articles on B-cells intervention in inflammatory mechanism of AS were retrieved from the Web of Science (WOS) database from 2004 to 2023. CiteSpace 6.1.R6 software was used to conduct the visualization analysis of countries, authors, institutions, references and keywords in this field. A total of 359 related articles were collected. Since 2004, the number of articles published in the field of B cells intervention in inflammatory mechanism of AS has shown a fluctuating upward trend. The 29 core authors are part of a research group centered on Bowness, Paul and Breban, Maxime. The main research institutions are Anhui Med Univ and Charite. Co-citation analysis reveals that research in this field is currently focused on “intergenic region” and “bone mineral density.” Keyword analysis shows that the current research hotspots and trends in this field mainly focus on the cellular immune mechanism, humoral immune mechanism and clinical application value of B cells intervention in inflammatory mechanism of AS. In the past 20 years, the research on the mechanism of B cells intervention in AS inflammation has focused on B cells intervention in AS inflammation through humoral and cellular immune mechanisms. The future research focus may tend to use B cells as a new therapeutic target for AS.