Research progress of lymphokine-activated killer cell therapy in tumor treatment

Lymphokine-activated killer cell therapy (LAK) is an antitumor biological therapy. That is, autologous or allogeneic lymphocytes are collected and isolated, activated, and amplified by IL-2 and other cytokines in vitro, so that they can be transformed into effector cells with tumor-killing effect, and then adopted into patients. As the earliest adoptive cell therapy, LAK cell therapy has been controversial since the 1980s because of its side effects and excessive cost. However, the clinical development of LAK cell therapy has been progressing slowly. The review aims to visualize emerging trends in LAK cell therapy and provide insights for future research by using bibliometric analysis. Relevant literature on LAK cell therapy in the Web of Science was sifted and analyzed to explore research trends in this field with the help of VOS viewer, Pajek, Microsoft Excel, and Endnote software. According to the search strategy, the most productive country is the United States. The institution with the highest number of publications is the National Cancer Institute. Cancer research is one of the most productive and influential journals. Rosenberg, Steven Aaron publishes the largest number of articles with a great academic impact. Keyword cluster analysis shows that the current research trend is more focused on “recombinant interleukin-2” and “adoptive immunotherapy”, as well as “lymphokine-activated killer cells”, exploring the mechanisms and modalities of LAK cell therapy. This study provides a comprehensive summary and analysis of global research trends in LAK cell therapy. The extensive research of LAK cell therapy will bring more hopes for tumor treatment and benefit the majority of patients with cancer.