Exploring research frontiers and emerging trends of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in the treatment of colorectal cancer.

Background: Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are a class of molecular targeted drugs designed to selectively inhibit tyrosine kinase activity associated with oncogenic signaling pathways and drivers, and have emerged as key therapeutic agents for colorectal cancer (CRC). The purpose of this study is to explore the research status and development trend of TKIs in CRC treatment.

Methods: The Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database was systematically searched for publications related to TKIs for the treatment of CRC from 2015 to 2024. The CiteSpace visualization software were employed to visualization analysis.

Results: A total of 1151 papers published between 2015 and 2024 were included in this study. The USA was the most productive and influential country in this field. The University of Texas System and University of California System were identified as the most productive and most cited institutions, respectively. Cancers has the highest publication volume in this field. Trusolino Livio and Van Cutsem Eric were identified as the most prolific and most frequently co-cited authors, respectively. The article titled "Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Cell Proliferation Signaling Pathways" published in Cancers in 2017, received the highest citation frequency. The emerging keywords that persisted into 2024 include "microsatellite instability", "biological evaluation", "drug discovery", "inhibitors", "regorafenib", "immunotherapy", and "T-cells".

Conclusion: Current research hotspots include development of novel TKIs, elucidation of TKIs resistance mechanisms and corresponding overcoming strategies, evaluation of TKIs efficacy and safety through biological assessments, and combination of TKIs with immunotherapy. Precision medicine, multimodal combination therapies, and interdisciplinary integration represent the frontier research areas and future development directions.