Emerging trends and hotspots of Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 in nervous system diseases.

BACKGROUND: The Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) transcription factor has attracted much attention in the context of neurological diseases. However, none of the studies have systematically clarified this field's research hotspots and evolution rules. AIM: To investigate the research hotspots, evolution patterns, and future research trends in this field in recent years. METHODS: We conducted a comprehensive literature search in the Web of Science Core Collection database using the following methods: (((((TS=(NFE2 L2)) OR TS=(Nfe2 L2 protein, mouse)) OR TS=(NF-E2-Related Factor 2)) OR TS=(NRF2)) OR TS=(NFE2L2)) OR TS=(Nuclear factor erythroid2-related factor 2) AND (((((((TS=(neurological diseases)) OR TS=(neurological disorder)) OR TS=(brain disorder)) OR TS=(brain injury)) OR TS=(central nervous system disease)) OR TS=(CNS disease)) OR TS=(central nervous system disorder)) OR TS=(CNS disorder) AND Language = English from 2010 to 2022. There are just two forms of literature available: Articles and reviews. Data were processed with the software Cite-Space (version 6.1. R6). RESULTS: We analyzed 1884 articles from 200 schools in 72 countries/regions. Since 2015, the number of publications in this field has increased rapidly. China has the largest number of publications, but the articles published in the United States have better centrality and H-index. Among the top ten authors with the most published papers, five of them are from China, and the author with the most published papers is Wang Handong. The institution with the most articles was Nanjing University. To their credit, three of the top 10 most cited articles were written by Chinese scholars. The keyword co-occurrence map showed that "oxidative stress", "NRF2", "activation", "expression" and "brain" were the five most frequently used keywords. CONCLUSION: Research on the role of NRF2 in neurological diseases continues unabated. Researchers in developed countries published more influential papers, while Chinese scholars provided the largest number of articles. There have been numerous studies on the mechanism of NRF2 transcription factor in neurological diseases. NRF2 is also emerging as a potentially effective target for the treatment of neurological diseases. However, despite decades of research, our knowledge of NRF2 transcription factor in nervous system diseases is still limited. Further studies are needed in the future.

Potential intervention target of atherosclerosis: Ferroptosis (Review).

Atherosclerosis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the blood vessels, which is mainly characterized by the form of atherosclerotic plaques and vascular endothelial injury. Its formation involves abnormal lipid metabolism, oxidative stress and inflammation, as well as other processes. AS is the direct cause of various acute cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, such as acute myocardial infarction and acute ischemic stroke. Early intervention in the atherosclerotic inflammatory process and lesion progression is beneficial, and has been associated with the primary prevention of a range of related diseases. Ferroptosis is a non­apoptotic form of cell death different from cell necrosis and autophagy, which has been shown to participate in atherogenesis and atherosclerotic progression through numerous signaling pathways. The main characteristic of ferroptosis is the formation of high levels of cellular iron catalytic free radicals, unsaturated fatty acid accumulation and iron­induced lipid reactive oxygen species accumulation, which can cause oxidative stress, and subsequent DNA, protein and lipid damage. There are numerous hypotheses about the pathogenesis of AS. At present, it has been suggested that ferroptosis can accelerate the progression of AS and that inflammation is associated with the whole process of AS. The mechanisms and signaling pathways related to the involvement of neuroinflammation and ferroptosis in the progression of AS, and therapeutic targets associated with ferroptosis have not yet been elucidated. The present review article evaluated the involvement of ferroptosis in the progression of AS from the perspectives of ferroptotic cell death, the pathogenesis of AS and nervous system inflammation, with the aim of exploring new therapeutic targets for AS.