Immunotherapeutic Innovations in Alzheimer's Disease: A Bibliometric Landscape of Global Research Trends and...

Immunotherapy has emerged as a promising strategy for Alzheimer's disease by targeting pathological proteins like amyloid-β. Despite increasing research, systematic assessments of this field remain scarce. Bibliometric analysis offers a quantitative approach to map trends, identify collaborations, and reveal hotspots such as antibody therapies and immune modulation mechanisms in neurodegenerative studies.

This study aimed to perform a bibliometric analysis assessing the therapeutic efficacy and recent advancements in immunotherapy for Alzheimer's disease (AD), with an emphasis on emerging trends and key challenges.

This study systematically retrieved 5,585 articles from the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) within the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) from 2005 to March 2025. Multi-dimensional analyses were performed on countries, institutions, authors, and keyword cooccurrence patterns using advanced visualization tools such as VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and R software.

The United States and China constitute the predominant proportion of research output, with amyloid-beta (Aβ)-targeted therapies (like aducanumab, lecanemab, donanemab) and tau immunomodulation serving as the principal research foci. Emerging research frontiers encompass neuroinflammatory regulation mechanisms (like NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome) alongside innovative approaches, including gut-microbiota axis modulation and extracellular vesicle-based strategies. Although these therapeutic interventions have exhibited potential in amyloid burden reduction and cognitive decline mitigation, Amyloid-Related Imaging Abnormalities (ARIA) persist as critical safety challenges demanding rigorous investigation.

Immunotherapy demonstrates disease-modifying potential in early-stage AD; however, it requires carefully optimized dosing regimens, precise biomarker-guided patient stratification, and integrated combinatorial strategies targeting Aβ, tau, and neuroinflammation. Future research should prioritize establishing robust translational models and promoting interdisciplinary collaboration to address preclinical-clinical translation gaps effectively.