Global research trends on the aryl hydrocarbon receptor in atopic dermatitis: a bibliometric and visualized analysis

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by recurrent eczematous lesions and intense pruritus. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), a ligand-activated transcription factor, plays a pivotal role in epidermal barrier differentiation, immune regulation, environmental responses, and microbiota-metabolite interactions, and has emerged as a potential therapeutic target with the clinical development of AHR agonists. However, a systematic bibliometric overview of the knowledge structure and evolving trends in this field is still lacking.

After screening, deduplication, and standardization, English-language publications on AD and AHR published between 2005 and 2025 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) and Scopus. VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and Scimago Graphica were then used to visualize publication trends, collaboration networks, journal distribution, co-cited references, and keyword evolution.

A total of 306 publications were included, comprising 168 original articles and 138 reviews. Research on AHR in AD began in 2005 and entered a phase of rapid growth after 2020. The studies involved 49 countries/regions, with the United States leading in both publication output and international collaboration, followed by Japan, China, South Korea, and Germany as major contributors. Journal and co-citation analyses indicated that this field is characterized by the intersection of dermatology and basic immunology. Keyword clustering highlighted four major themes: immune and inflammatory regulation, skin barrier function and environmental exposure, the microbiota-metabolism-comorbidity axis, and AHR-targeted therapy and clinical evaluation. Overall, the research focus has gradually expanded from basic mechanisms to microbiota-targeted regulation and clinical translation.

This study systematically mapped the research landscape and developmental trends of AHR in AD over the past two decades, revealing a clear shift from investigations centered on its role as a classical environmental sensor to multidimensional mechanistic studies involving immune regulation, skin barrier function, and the interplay among the microbiota, metabolism, and comorbidities. These findings provide clinicians and researchers with a rapid overview of the academic frontiers in this field and offer a useful reference for the development of AHR-targeted therapeutic strategies and the identification of future research directions.