Analysis of the differences in lung cancer research trends between China and the United States based using project funding data

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death, and countries all over the world have given considerable support to lung cancer research. However, analysis on the status of funding in the field of lung cancer is still lacking. METHODS: We visited the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) official websites to gather lung cancer research information between 2008 and 2020. RSTCM6 software was used to extract the keywords of funded projects which were then imported into CiteSpace software for visual analysis of word frequency. RESULTS: A total of 1,745 and 5,939 search results were finally obtained from the NSFC and NIH websites, respectively. The amount of NSFC funding for projects in the field of lung cancer increased steadily from 2008 to 2012, while the NIH funding for lung cancer was significantly higher in even years than in odd years between 2008 to 2018. The Shanghai Jiaotong University, Sun Yat-sen University, and Guangzhou Medical University were the top three research institutions that had received the most projects funded by the NSFC. Apoptosis, proliferation, invasion, metabolism, the pathogenesis of lung cancer, cell signal transduction, epithelial-mesenchymal transformation (EMT), and immune-related research were the most frequently funded research areas by the NSFC. Biomarkers, targeted therapy, signal pathway, genomics, and immune-related research were funded most the most frequently funded research areas by the NIH. Both the NIH and NSFC funding for lung cancer immune-related research has increased in recent years. CONCLUSIONS: NIH funding in the United States is decreasing year by year, whereas NSFC funding is increasing in China. There are some differences in research focus in lung cancer research funding between China and the United States. However, both countries have increased the support for immune-related research in recent years.