The potency of ursolic acid as a co-chemotherapy agent for breast cancer: Bibliometric analysis and bioinformatic study

Ursolic acid, a triterpenoid compound found in various plants, has been garnered significant attention as potential co-chemotherapeutic agent for breast cancer therapy. To comprehensively evaluate the current state of research and identify knowledge gaps, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of the literature pertaining ursolic acid and breast cancer. Using several databases, including Scopus, Google Scholar, and PubMed, we analyzed publication trends, collaboration patterns, and research foci within this field from 2000 to 2024. The highest number of publications was from China, which had 37 documents on those three databases. The most cited article was published by Yeh et al. in 2010. The keyword co-occurrence analysis discovered that “cytotoxic effect”, “breast cancer cell line”, and “therapy” were terms that are most frequently used in this field. Our bioinformatic study revealed that ursolic acid has ability to bind into MAPK3 protein with affinity score -7.2 kcal/mol due to van der Waals and alkyl interactions involving several amino acid residues. This negative regulation of MAPK3 can inhibit cell proliferation, metastasis, and glucose metabolism in breast cancer cells. Overall, this bibliometric analysis and bioinformatic study provide valuable insights into the current landscape of ursolic acid research for breast cancer therapy and highlights areas that warrant further investigation.